A Seville lawyer managed to persuade the TC to study his appeal for amparo
In 2021 the court admitted the labor lawsuit for treatment, but set the trial three and a half years later.
Daniel Sánchez Bernal believes that, if he is right, the Administration of Justice can “falter”
“Customers are dying awaiting their trial!” Blinded, the Sevillian lawyer Daniel Sánchez Bernal tells us about the war he has waged for years against delays in justice. This Monday he hopes to win a major battle in the Constitutional Court. The court of guarantees will study youn appeal for your protection for a work process. He filed a lawsuit in June 2021 and, after admitting him for processing, the court told him the trial date would be the end of 2024.. Three and a half years to resolve an issue related to the post-doctoral contract of his client José Luis.
The case of José Luis is not isolated, explains Daniel: “The trials are scheduled between three and four years. Today there are some that have been set as an end date of 2026. There are many requests for quantities after a dismissal and questions. Similar In his experience, this means that many times the customer cannot wait that long, “and ends up being satisfied with the crumbs”, with what the wages fund pays him, which is usually much less than what he pays.
Daniel has had cases where clients were left with nothing because the company went into liquidation prior to the trial. They are consequences of delays that are undergone in all areas and to which it has risen, why “delayed justice is not justice”he claims.
“I was very lucky that my client, from the beginning, trusted me and told me that we could get where we needed to” says Daniele, who hopes that this Monday the Constitution will put an end to the procedure, but that if necessary, it will appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, for violation of two rights: effective judicial protection and the right to a trial without delay.
When asked for how much does it cost to extend a case up to the Constitutional Court, he replies that it can make the procedure more onerous by just under a thousand euros, something not everyone can afford, especially after a layoff.
a postdoctoral contract
For economic reasons, and also for exhaustion, most clients tend to give up much earlier, explains the lawyer. This is why he considers it lucky that Daniele had the means and the desire to fight to get to the Constitutional Court.
In the case of José Luis, he did his doctorate and was promised that if he defended his thesis a year ahead of schedule, he would be awarded a postdoctoral contract: “My client made a great effort to do it sooner. and now he sees that he will not have that contract, which serves to open many doors, affects the projects in which he has worked and cuts off any job promotions “.
When they got to court, in 2021 the case was admitted, but the trial was scheduled for November 2024. They appealed, but the response they found in court was that they took notice in case they found a loophole. So they went on, even when there was a change, from 2024 to 2023.
Neither that shortening of deadlines, nor any other advance, for December of this year, made them desist: “This means that when you want it is empty,” he says. This Monday, José Luis and Daniel will await the Constitutional Court, albeit unaware of the blocking of its renewal and other political issues. What matters to them is their resource of protection, which if it thrives, according to Daniel, it can “shake the Administration of Justice”. Because even though there have been statements from the TC about the delays, they have never been about the allegations.
What if the TC agrees with them?
“I’m sure Friday we will toast with joy and cry with joy,” says Daniel, who hopes the Constitutional Court will say so. Your client’s rights to trial without delay and effective judicial protection have been violated.
From there, if the magistrates supported him, they would give the order to fix the trial on closed dates, even if this has already happened in parallel and the court has set a date for the end of this year.
But for him the most relevant point is the third, because this presupposes that the way is open to the request for responsibility. Furthermore, he is convinced that this could lead to an avalanche of resources and requests, which could mobilize not only citizens with similar problems, but also legal operators to request more resources.
I don’t blame the officials, I’ve worked there and I know I’m at the top. But it cannot be the broken dishes that are always paid for by the same, the justifiable
Daniel has been interim in a court of law and assures that he does not blame the officials, because he knows that they are at the top and that sometimes they do not get up from their posts except out of vital necessity. However, he believes that a lot can be done, “but it cannot be the broken dishes that are always paid by the same, the defendants”, he exclaims on the phone from Sevilla.
He does not dispute the need to create more courts, but in his opinion the most effective thing would be to reform the judicial system and promote telematic means to streamline procedures.
Furthermore, in the case of business hearings, it is emphasized that these are very short sessions and in which everything is clear. “Sometimes they last five or ten minutes. It can’t be that you have to wait three or four years for that.”
Nobody goes to court on a whim, but there are clients who would rather lose money than mental health
Despite being a young lawyer, Daniel has long been dealing with issues like this: “No one goes to court on a whim, but there are clients who prefer to lose money rather than mental health,” he says explaining why many plaintiffs give up without getting to the point. end.
And not only. In addition to the repercussions for clients, there are also those suffered by lawyers, who They charge when the procedure is resolved: “What do we do in the meantime, what do we live on and what do our customers live on?”
Lack of props
Several times, in his conversation with NIUS, Daniel pauses lack of support from the Seville Bar Associationwhich according to him showed his support only after a reproach from the Ombudsman: “Only four colleagues support me”, the rest, nothing.
“Some colleagues give you a pat on the back for arguing, but at the moment of truth, neither a call nor a message,” he insists.
His phone hasn’t stopped ringing for the past few days. But most of the phone calls come from journalists asking about the arrival of their case at the Constitutional Court. He admits that, although hopeful, he is nervous. He did not put candles, but as a devotee he relies on his Esperanza de Triana, which he always carries in his pocket, even though this time he knows that the only one who can protect him is the Constitutional Court.
