Arbitration and litigation

The recent developments of the world economy and of the Italian economy have intensified the disputes between banks and investors, and between commercial businesses. The regulatory and tax infringement procedures launched by States and local bodies against banks, financial institutions and large enterprises ‒ apparently also because of the increasing difficulties faced by Italian institutions ‒ have also increased significantly.

Clients are therefore more and more frequently instructing our Firm to handle complex disputes generated by these socio-economic developments.

Especially when handling disputes pending before judges seated in locations different from the traditional financial centers, Zunarelli – Studio Legale Associato places a lawyer belonging to the Firm and permanently operating in the forum where the dispute is pending beside the internal staff specialized in the sectors of substantive law relevant to the dispute.

Every office of the Firm has in fact at least one professional dedicated to dispute resolution, so that according to their relevance and to the practice areas involved cases can be handled either by organizing a local team or by creating a team with lawyers belonging to different offices of the Firm.

The success of this approach has favored the inclusion of our Firm among the ranked firms in the Chambers Global Guide 2019 in the practice area of Dispute Resolution – Italy.

Recent work includes:

• we advise a Chinese company, which today is amongst the most advanced in the world for the construction of infrastructures, in proceedings lodged in Italy by an Italian company aimed at obtaining a precautionary measure for inhibiting the payment of first demand bank guarantees, concerning an underlying subcontracting agreement;

• we provide advice to an Italian company operating in the fashion sector in an arbitration pending before the Paris ICC International Court of Arbitration, aimed at obtaining the payment of royalties under a know-how agreement from a Chinese company;

• we represent a company in proceedings before the Corte Costituzionale concerning the declaration of unconstitutionality of art. 29 of Legislative Decree 185/2008, converted into Law 2/2009, for breach of the right to tax credit accrued pursuant to the 2007 Budget Law and for the connected infringement of some constitutionally guaranteed rights;

• we represent an Italian company operating in the fashion sector in an arbitration pending before the Paris ICC International Court of Arbitration, aimed at obtaining economic compensation from a Chinese company for the losses suffered due to the breach of the agreement for the establishment of an Equity Joint Venture in China;

• we have acted for a tax warehouse in a dispute against a client concerning the recovery of the excise duties on the fuel oil released for consumption by the latter;

• we are acting for a logistics company in a dispute concerning the damage caused by the collapse of a large portion of a warehouse where it was operating. Its customer claims compensation for the suffered damage and the logistics company in turn asks to be held harmless by the owner and the lessor of the warehouse with respect to the customer’s claim and to obtain compensation for the damage it suffered;

• we have acted for a municipality in an arbitration before an Italian Chamber of Commerce lodged by its in-house company concerning the liability of the latter’s administrators due to mismanagement and negligent behavior in exercising their role;

• we have represented the heir of a passenger who died in an accident occurred to a light aircraft with respect to the reciprocal compensation claims made by and against the other passenger who suffered severe injuries due to the accident;

• we have successfully represented the contract awarding body of a public procurement in first degree proceedings. On behalf of the Client we obtained the stay of the provisional enforceability of an order for payment concerning the price of the contract, the revocation of the order, and the dismissal of the contractor’s application. We are now representing the Client in the appeal proceedings;

• we have successfully acted for a marina concessionaire and for the Port Authority of the port where the marina is located in the dispute against Agenzia del Territorio (Italian Revenue Agency, former Land Registry Office), obtaining the annulment of the new cadastral classifications. Now representing the Clients in the appeal proceedings before the Commissione Tributaria Regionale (Tax Court of Appeal);

• we have represented an Italian Province in a dispute brought against it by some transport companies before a TAR (Regional Administrative Court). The companies sought to obtain compensation payments for the performance of public transport services under Regulation EC no. 1191/69.