THE LAW
I. Alleged violation of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention
25. The applicant complained that the length of the proceedings had been incompatible with the "reasonable time" requirement, laid down in Article 6 § 1 of the Convention, which reads as follows:
"In the determination of his civil rights and obligations..., everyone is entitled to a... hearing within a reasonable time by [a]... tribunal..."
26. The Government contested that argument.
27. The period to be taken into consideration began on 31 July 1998 when the applicant lodged her action with the Kuybyshevskiy District Court and ended on 8 February 2006 with the final judgment of the Rostov Regional Court. It thus lasted for approximately seven years and seven months at two levels of jurisdiction.
A. Admissibility
28. The Court notes that the application is not manifestly ill-founded within the meaning of Article 35 § 3 of the Convention. It further notes that it is not inadmissible on any other grounds. It must therefore be declared admissible.
B. Merits
29. The Government stated that the national authorities can be held liable only for a delay of nine months and twenty-four days. They argued that the overall length of the court proceedings was mainly attributable to the complexity of the case and to the conduct of the applicant and her representative. According to the Government, the proceedings had been complex due to the large number of participants, that is to say four plaintiffs, two defendants and one third party, and the need to conduct two expert examinations. They further asserted that, though the applicant's efforts to ensure the best representation of her interests were understandable, the manner in which she had exercised her procedural rights had undoubtedly contributed to the prolongation of the proceedings. The Government also imputed to the applicant a failure to enquire promptly about developments in the proceedings. In particular, the request by the applicant's representative asking the District Court to set aside their decision of 3 October 2000 to discontinue the proceedings was only submitted on 9 July 2001. Then, only on 19 January 2004 did the applicant's representative request that the proceedings discontinued by the District Court's decision of 20 December 2002 be resumed.
30. The applicant maintained her complaint.
31. The Court reiterates that the reasonableness of the length of proceedings must be assessed in the light of the circumstances of the case and with reference to the following criteria: the complexity of the case, the conduct of the applicant and the relevant authorities and what was at stake for the applicant in the dispute (see, among many other authorities, Frydlender v. France [GC], No. 30979/96, § 43, ECHR 2000-VII).
32. The Court is not convinced by the Government's argument that the above-mentioned number of parties and the conducting of the two expert examinations can sufficiently substantiate the complex nature of the dispute. In any event, the Court is of the view that the complexity of the case, taken on its own, cannot justify the seven years and seven months of the proceedings.
33. As to the applicant's conduct in the present case, nothing indicates that her procedural requests were abusive, frivolous or vexatious. She cannot be criticised for amending her claims and seeking to obtain additional evidence, or, in other words, for taking full advantage of the resources afforded by national law in the defence of her interests, even though that resulted in an increase in the length of the proceedings (see, mutatis mutandis, {Yagci} and {Sargin} v. Turkey, 8 June 1995, § 66, Series A No. 319-A and {Surmeli} v. Germany [GC], No. 75529/01, § 131, ECHR 2006-VII). The opposite approach would rend
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