Public debt claim
Turning an unpaid invoice into an enforceable title
We open the claim against the debtor body through whichever domestic route applies — a monitorio in Spain, a decreto ingiuntivo in Italy, an injunção in Portugal — and carry it until the debt is recognised in an enforceable title in your name. This is where everything else starts: without a final domestic title there is nothing to take to Strasbourg.
How it works
Four steps, and at each one you know what you provide and what we do.
We demand payment from the debtor body in writing
Before litigating, payment is formally demanded, invoice by invoice with its due date. Many authorities pay at this point, and the demand also fixes the date from which interest runs.
Monitorio, decreto ingiuntivo or injunção
We file through the fast track each country reserves for documented debt. A lawyer of the forum signs it; we direct the strategy.
If the body objects, it goes to trial
The debtor may object and open ordinary proceedings. If it does not, the claim becomes final without further steps and in far less time.
You come out with an enforceable title in your name
The procedure ends in an enforceable ruling. It is the piece everything afterwards needs, at home and abroad.
What the engagement covers
Point by point, what we take on.
Before filing
- Review of invoices and sign-offs
- Principal, interest and costs computed
- Identification of the body and its budget
- Choice of procedural route
The procedure
- Drafting and filing of the claim
- Lawyer and court agent of the forum
- Deadlines and service tracked
- Reply to the debtor’s objection
On completion
- The enforceable title obtained
- Outcome report
- Recommendation on the next steps
Who engages us for this
The creditor profiles that most often arrive at this engagement.
How we work
Six commitments that hold across all six engagements.
We tell you no first
If the claim cannot be pursued, you hear it before anything is signed. A file that cannot prosper is no use to anyone.
A local lawyer in every country
The domestic phase is run by someone who litigates in that forum every day. The European phase we run ourselves, because it is the same everywhere.
The lawyer who briefs you is the one who runs it
The file does not change hands when the meeting ends. Whoever receives you is who signs the submissions.
The deadlines of the procedure, not estimates
You get the dates the rules set, not an optimistic guess. When a deadline cannot be extended, we say so before we start.
Everything in writing
Each phase ends in a document you can take to your board: the opinion, the submission as filed, the ruling.
Nothing you cannot check
Every statement about case law comes with its judgment and its application number. You can verify it yourself on HUDOC.
Further reading
Three articles that go into the detail.
Italy: The Pinto Remedy and Where It Stops Working
Law 89/2001 gave Italy a domestic answer to excessive length of proceedings. It is a gate you have to pass before Strasbourg — and the Court has already ruled on the ways it fails.
Spain: What Counts as Exhausting Domestic Remedies
More Spanish applications fail on exhaustion than on any question of substance. The recurso de amparo is usually the reason — taken when it was not required, skipped when it was.
Still Waiting to Get Paid?
Contracts, tenders, or public-sector employment can leave creditors waiting years for money already owed. The ECHR has ruled that indefinite waiting is not neutral — it is a violation.
Ready to Move Forward?
New ECHR rulings are holding States to account. Yours could be next.
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