Italian courts issue key rulings on legal evidence and rights

Several recent rulings from Italian high courts have established new precedents across criminal, administrative, and labor law.

The Corte di Cassazione annulled an order that imposed automatic censorship on the correspondence of mafia boss Giovanni Di Giacomo, ruling that the 41-bis prison regime does not justify blanket restrictions on mail without specific, individualized justifications.

In the administrative sphere, the Consiglio di Stato ruled that criminal investigation documents, such as wiretaps and search reports, can now be used as evidence in administrative courts to annul public acts, even without a final criminal conviction. Additionally, the Tar Sicilia reinstated the Professional Accademy Athena for regional training funds after finding that certain regional guidelines used to exclude the association were illegitimate.

Regarding labor and civil law, the Cassazione set strict evidentiary standards for unpaid overtime claims, stating that workers cannot rely on generic tables or vague testimony but must provide precise historical proof. Furthermore, the court clarified rules on the three-year presumptive statute of limitations for lawyer fees, noting that the burden of proof for payment becomes significantly higher for professionals after this period.