Senate overturns ruling on care court's refusal to accept application in Latgalian

The Administrative Cases Department of Latvia's Supreme Court Senate this week reviewed an ancillary complaint regarding a decision by an Administrative District Court judge concerning an application against the actions of the Tukums municipality orphan's court (bāriņtiesa). The Senate partly overturned the ruling, deciding that the question of how to proceed with the application must be reconsidered.

The dispute began last September, when a man submitted two applications written in the Latgalian written language to the orphan's court. He asked to view a video recording of his meeting with his daughter, to receive an assessment of how the contact went and whether any risk to the child's health or psyche was evident, and to help arrange a meeting between his mother and his foster daughter, as well as to file a court claim on his mother's behalf to establish remote contact arrangements with his daughter and foster daughter.

The orphan's court responded that official communication with municipal institutions must be conducted in Latvian and asked him to resubmit the application in standard literary Latvian. The man maintained that his applications complied with the Constitution and the law, but in October the orphan's court again required a translation before it would review the matter. He then turned to the administrative court, seeking to have the orphan's court's conduct declared unlawful and to compel it to apologize.

The district court judge refused to accept the part of the claim seeking apologies to other family members, noting that a person may only defend their own rights in court, not those of others. The remaining part was dismissed as manifestly unfounded, on the grounds that the applicant had no right to demand communication in Latgalian and the institution had no duty to translate such submissions.

Senate's findings

The Senate found that some requests, such as arranging a grandparent's contact schedule, fall under civil law and are not subject to administrative proceedings. However, the request concerning an assessment of the applicant's contact with his child relates to protecting the child's interests and falls within the orphan's court's competence, meaning the institution should have responded to it.

The Senate also said the judge acted prematurely in dismissing the claim as manifestly unfounded, since the case raises complex legal questions about the use of the Latgalian written language and the preservation of Latgalian identity, requiring interpretation of the Constitution, the State Language Law and the Law on Historical Latvian Lands. Since clear answers are lacking, the Senate ruled the case must be examined in full court proceedings on its merits.