2021

Insurer must pay defense costs of insured who joined him in the trial: another Supreme Court memo to lower courts

The precedent stigmatizes the error in law of some judicial cases by virtue of which the court, when rejecting the plaintiff claims, fails to rule on the defense costs requested by the insured from his insurer joined in the proceeding. This undue practice comes from the misunderstanding that the indemnity obligation of the Third Party Insurer it also includes the defense of the insured and not the indemnity payment only. The paper analyses a judgment of the Italian Supreme Court regarding the case of a naturopath accused to have voluntary caused the death of a cancer patient for having her prescribed a cure of only diets and muds. The judgment offers the opportunity to dust off the notions of dolus eventualis and negligence with prediction of the event and their uncertain discrimen. In addition, it is of great interest the comparison of this judgment with another rendered in a similar case in 2008, focusing, in particular, on the different conclusions reached by the judges.

Abstact published in Responsabilità Medica – Diritto e Pratica Clinica.