The college of the bankruptcy section of the Court of Genoa rejected a claim proposed against a securitisation company (assignee of a credit deriving from a mortgage) by a debtor who complained about the nullity of the relationship for alleged manipulation of the Euribor rate applied to the mortgage.
According to the judges of the Ligurian capital, “the party complaining about the antitrust offence must give specific proof of the manipulative intent of the Euribor rate to its detriment according to the ordinary rules of the burden of proof. In particular, it must demonstrate the determining influence of the behaviour of the banking system on the amount of the rate, taking into account the fact that the Euribor rate constitutes an average index, calculated on data that are assumed to be objective, which can become part of the individual contract also per relationem (without there being a violation of Article 117 TUB [Italian Consolidated Banking Act])“.
The defence was handled by Roberto Cassinelli together with Lorenzo Porzio.