Pursuant to Italian law, art. 83 c.p.c., a person must appoint a lawyer to be represented in civil proceedings. Attorneys can speak and act on behalf of their clients through the Power of Attorney.
What happens if there is no Power of Attorney?
Attorneys and Power of Attorney: before and after the Cartabia reform (February 28, 2023)
In the judgement of December 21, 2022, § 37434 (as per art. 182 c.p.c.) the Italian Supreme Court established that a Power of Attorney must be in place from the beginning of a civil proceeding to let attorneys speak and act on behalf of their clients.
In that specific case, the Supreme Court approved a judge’s decision to consider illegitimate the claim of a defendant lacking in Power of Attorney (i.e., not represented by an attorney). The judge also accepted the other party’s claims and ordered the defendant to pay the legal fees for the dispute.
However, art. 182 c.p.c. has recently been amended by the d.lgs. 149/2022, c.d. Cartabia Reform, which came into force on February 28, 2023. Pursuant to this new regulation, the lack of a Power of Attorney can be rectified in the middle of civil proceedings, with the judge deciding on a period within which to do so.
As this new regulation is not retroactive, there is now a gap between the cases filed after February 28, 2023, and those filed before that date, to which the law will apply in its prior wording.
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