Italian Supreme Court of Cassation (Corte di Cassazione italiana), Civil Section I, No. 13092/2025, 16 May 2025

This contribution concerns the issue, recently addressed by the Supreme Court, of the prescription of liability of the director of a trade union association arising from the non-transparent management of the association’s activities. In particular, the Supreme Court comes to identify the dies a quo of the prescription period of the right to compensation for damages arising from the mala gestio at the time when the damage is manifested externally.

Art. 18 Italian Civil Code

Art. 2935 Italian Civil Code

Art. 2941 Italian Civil Code

1. The non-recognised association is a legal entity distinct from the members, to which the mandate rules apply.

2. In a case of liability of the administrator of an unrecognised association arising out of transactions and concealed transactions through secret current accounts and ‘off the books’ payments, for the purposes of identifying the initial prescription period pursuant to Article 2935 of the Italian Civil Code where the perception of the damage is not manifest and obvious, the prescription period of the right to compensation for damage caused by an unlawful act as well as that dependent on contractual liability arises not from the time when the act ontologically determines the damage to another’s right, but from the time when the production of the damage is manifested externally, becoming objectively perceptible and recognisable according to ordinary diligence.