Recent Supreme Court decision deals with the right of a client of a bank to seek the presentation of account statements in court

By its recent decision no. 24641 of September 13, 2021, the Italian Court of Cassation again dwelled on the debated question relating to the right of the customer of a banking institution to obtain, in court, the exhibition of a copy of the documents relating to single transactions carried out, including account statements, also pursuant to Article 119 of the Italian Testo Unico Bancario (T.U.B.), as well as Article 210 of the Italian Code of Civil Procedure.

In particular, the Supreme Court, departing from a previous contrary orientation, ruled that said right can be exercised in court only where the documentation in question has previously been requested from the bank and the latter, without justifying reason, has not complied with said request.

By virtue of the literal and restrictive interpretation provided by the Court in relation to the aforementioned provision of the T.U.B., which does not expressly provide on this point, the bank’s client cannot therefore indiscriminately invoke the intervention of the judge to obtain a copy of the account statements - which would undermine, according to the Supreme Court, the ordinary distribution of the probative burdens - except in the case in which the bank has defaulted on its obligations, if previously activated out of court by the customer.