Judge says repeated delays in Pruunsild case fall short of good practice

Estonia’s Tallinn Administrative Court has postponed its ruling more than 10 times on a compensation claim against the state by entrepreneur Parvel Pruunsild and politician Priit Humal, ERR reports. Judge Daimar Liiv said the repeated delays were not fully in line with good judicial practice, but that a carefully considered ruling was preferable to a rushed one.

The latest deadline passed on Monday without a decision. Liiv said such frequent postponements were rare, though they had occurred in other complex cases. He said the duration of delays mattered more than the number of times a ruling was postponed, and added that judges must pay particular attention when delays could affect time-sensitive rights, such as access to social benefits.

The court has previously cited the case’s legal complexity, the volume of material and a growing number of cases as reasons for the delay. Liiv said three particularly complex, large-scale disputes had been assigned to him. The Pruunsild and Humal case requires extensive work on the case file, legislation and domestic and European Union case law, he said. He expects the ruling to be completed by Wednesday at the latest.

Liiv said administrative courts’ first-instance workload had risen significantly this year because of migration pressure. Courts were actively addressing the workload, he said, but existing judges had no extra time available. Artificial intelligence and other technical tools could speed up proceedings to some extent, but the additional workload remained substantial. He said more radical measures would require the pressure to persist for longer.

Pruunsild and Humal are seeking compensation from the Estonian state, arguing that it failed to protect their rights in the retention and collection of personal data and did not bring the relevant laws into order.