Judgment No. 2853

• Organization: International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)
• Date: 08.07.2009
• Original: English
• Judges: Ba, Gaudron, Hansen
• Full judgment text - Full judgment text (french)

Decision

1. The Federation shall pay the complainant's costs in the amount of 500 Swiss francs.
2. The complaint is otherwise dismissed.

Considerations 6-8

Extract:

The difference as to the complainant's performance rating was not resolved in internal grievance proceedings and the complainant filed an internal appeal. Having received no response, the complainant sent an e-mail to the Registry of the Tribunal, stating that he wished to file a complaint.
"It is fundamental that a litigant cannot pursue the same claim before different adjudicative bodies at the same time. Normally, the litigant will be forced to elect the forum in which he or she intends to proceed. That did not happen in the present case. Nonetheless, the complainant pursued his internal appeal to finality and, thus, must be taken to have elected to pursue internal remedies rather than to proceed at that stage before the Tribunal on the basis of an implied rejection of his internal appeal. However, that does not mean that the complaint is irreceivable."
"[When] the complainant [decided] to pursue internal remedies [...], [his] complaint had already been filed and it was receivable pursuant to Article VII, paragraph 3, of the Statute. Moreover, he then had a cause of action, as his claim was not satisfied until 13 December 2007."
"Even though the complaint became without object on 13 December 2007, it was receivable when filed and the complainant then had a cause of action. Accordingly, he is entitled, in these circumstances, to the costs associated with its filing, even though not requested in the complaint. However, he is not entitled to costs in respect of subsequent pleadings which were filed after his decision to pursue his internal appeal. There will be an award of costs in the amount of 500 Swiss francs, but the complaint must otherwise be dismissed."

Keywords

absence of final decision; implied decision; receivability of the complaint; direct appeal to tribunal; internal appeal; duplication of proceedings; internal remedies exhausted; costs