Exclusion of the plaintiff from criminal trials against legal entities

Issue 6/2020

Abstract. Case-law and legal writings regarding the right of the plaintiff to sue as a civil party into criminal trials against legal entities (under Legislative Decree no. 231/01) differ. On the one side, some of the doctrines and some of the judiciary authorities came to believe that excluding the plaintiff would result into an unjustified limitation of one’s right to seek judicial protection. On the other side, the majority opinion – aligning with the interpretation of the Supreme Court of Cassation, the Constitutional Court and the Court of Justice – does not recognize the plaintiff’s right to bring a civil action in the criminal proceedings against a legal entity. . In fact, both the right to sue the individual who committed the crime and the right to seek compensation for damages would provide the offended party with sufficient legal protection. These conclusions also stem from the absence of any explicit legal reference to a potential intervention of the offended party in the trial. According to a literal reading of the law, the legislator seems to have intentionally excluded the plaintiff from criminal trials against legal entities as deemed unnecessa

SUMMARY: 1. Introduction. – 2. Thesis in favour of the plaintiff’s admission to the trial. – 3. Thesis contesting the admission of the plaintiff to the trial, endorsed by the jurisprudence and the order considered in this note. – 4. Conclusions.

To read the Reflection, click on “open file”.

To read the Teramo Court’s order, issued by its criminal division sitting as a solejudge (with a sole judge presiding), February 26, 2020, here discussed, click here.