ORDER OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE
31 March 2009 (*)
(Legal aid)
In Case T‑590/08 AJ,
Luigi Landolfo, residing in Bristol (United Kingdom),
applicant,
v
European Central Bank (ECB), represented by A. Sáinz de Vicuña Barroso, acting as Agent,
defendant,
APPLICATION for legal aid pursuant to Article 95 of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance,
THE PRESIDENT OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
makes the following
Order
1 By application received at the Registry of the Court on 22 December 2008, Mr Luigi Landolfo requests legal aid, prior to bringing an action before the Court relating to complaints of alleged intrusion into his private life and certain types of discrimination against him on the part of the staff of the European Central Bank (ECB).
2 By letter of 13 February 2009, the ECB submitted its observations to the Court to the effect that it takes the view that the application for legal aid must be rejected on the basis of Article 94(3) of the Rules of Procedure.
3 Under Article 94(3) of the Rules of Procedure, legal aid is to be refused if the action in respect of which the application is made appears to be manifestly inadmissible or manifestly unfounded.
4 Under the second subparagraph of Article 95(2) of the Rules of Procedure, if the application is made before the action has been brought, the applicant must briefly state the subject-matter of the proposed action, the facts of the case and the arguments in support of the action. The application must be accompanied by supporting documents in that regard.
5 In the present case, it cannot be understood clearly from the legal aid application form what type of action Mr Landolfo seeks to bring before the Court, as he at no time defined the subject-matter of his action.
6 It seems, however, that an action for annulment can be excluded, since Mr Landolfo’s application makes no reference to any specific act or specific decision of the ECB.
7 In addition, in so far as the list of allegedly improper conduct – which he attributes to the ECB staff – must be understood as seeking to form the basis of an action for damages, Mr Landolfo does not explain, in a coherent and comprehensible way, exactly what the criticised conduct of the defendant consists of, the causal link between that conduct and the injury he may have suffered, or, lastly, the nature and scope of that injury.
8 Clearly, therefore, the application for legal aid must be rejected.
On those grounds,
THE PRESIDENT OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE
hereby orders:
The application for legal aid in Case T-590/08 AJ is rejected.
Luxembourg, 31 March 2009.