PRESS RELEASE

TWO MILLION EURO FINE ON CATTOLICA ASSICURAZIONI FOR AGGRESSIVE DEBT COLLECTION PRACTICES

A fine of €2.0 million on Cattolica Assicurazioni for “unfair trade practices that were aggressive”: these were the practices that, according to the Italian Antitrust Authority, the company followed in order to recover amounts due.

This conduct manifested itself through the systematic forwarding of summonses to the office of a single justice of the peace, different from the one that is territorially competent for consumers residing in other jurisdictions. These summonses, moreover, indicated a fictitious date for the first hearing, without the case having even been registered.

According to the Antitrust Authority, the conduct was not meant to exercise a legitimate right to recover the amounts due in court but to establish an undue influence on the average consumer, leading to the view that it would be preferable to settle the requested amount rather than to leave oneself open to litigation. Summonses forwarded to a place other than the court having the competent territorial jurisdiction are in fact considered apt to exert psychological pressure on recipients, such as to unduly influence their choices and their economic behaviour.

Rome, 9 October 2015