Country:

Italy

Court:

Trib. Milano 31-1-2003, in Danno e Resp., 2003, 634.

Topics:

Defect - Reasonably expected use of product - Non-material damage.

Articles:

art. 6 al. 1 sub b.; art. 9.

Facts:

A gardener claims compensation for physical injuries occurred when the ladder he was working on collapsed.

Legal questions:

Did the plaintiff use the product in a normal, foreseeable way?

Decisions:

The Tribunal held the manufacturer liable after having verified through witnesses that the ladder has been used in a normal, foreseeable way when the accident occurred. Therefore the manufacturer is condemned to pay: € 2.000.00 for temporary infirmity, € 3.750,00 for 4% of permanent infirmity, € 57, 48 for pecuniary losses and € 2,582, 28 for loss of job opportunity.

The non-material damage is not compensated because the Tribunal asserted that in a strict liability case is lacking the fault, which is required by art. 2059 c.c. for the compensation of this kind of damages.

Comments:

It has to be remarked that a recent decision of the Corte di Cassazione has overruled the doctrine on non-material damage assuming that this kind of damage has to be compensated also in strict liability cases because there the fault, even if not investigated by the Court, is presumed as existing by the law (C. Cass. 12 may 2003 n. 7282, in Resp. Civ. e prev., 2003, pag. 676). If this new doctrine will be confirmed by further decisions of the Corte di Cassazione, then it will be absolutely relevant to establish if the directive charge the manufacturer with an absolute strict liability, or with a strict liability which presumed the existence of the fault.

See also: Tribunale di Vercelli, 7 april 2003.