In September 2010 the European Court of Human Rights ruled in the case Rumpf v. Germany. Mr. Rumpf’s case before German courts had taken 13 years and 5 months. The court saw a structural problem and found similar violations in 70 further cases.
Germany responded with a law in force since 3 December 2011. Anyone who suffers a disadvantage from the unreasonable length of a court case receives compensation. For non-material harm it is, as a rule, 1,200 euros for each year of delay. First the party must complain about the delay to the court itself, with a Verzögerungsrüge.
The law treats this kind of waiting as a harm to be paid for.