News Supreme Court rulings February 2019

Facebook use at work and disciplinary dismissal

The Supreme Court, in its February 1, 2019 ruling no. 3133, found legitimate the disciplinary dismissal, imposed by the employer on its employee who made a substantial number of logins (amounting to 4,500), on the well-known social network Facebook, surfing the Internet for hours during working hours for purposes unrelated to her duties.

The Supreme Court upheld the judgment of the Court of Appeals, finding that said behavior was a breach of the duties of good faith in the performance of the duties performed by the employee.

Traffic accident in the absence of signs: the municipality is not responsible

In the case of a collision between two vehicles that occurred near a road intersection, in the absence of traffic signals, the municipality is not liable, pursuant to Article 2051 of the Civil Code, which stipulates the case of non-contractual liability for damage caused by things held in custody.

This principle, which leaves no room for doubt, is enunciated by the Court of Civil Cassation, Third Section, which in its order Feb. 13, 2019 no. 4161 argues that “in the absence of appropriate signage, the driver is obliged to obey the general rules of the highway code and thus, among other things, to regulate speed in the vicinity of the intersection; moreover, the imprudence of the antagonist vehicle is reasonably foreseeable and, therefore, avoidable.”

Existential damage and moral damage

The Supreme Court Third Civil Section in its January 31, 2019 ruling no. 2788 addresses the issue regarding the quantification of moral damage in relation to existential damage, concluding that these are two completely autonomous and, therefore, non-overlapping items.

The Supreme Court, arguing the above principle, holds that the court of legitimacy, in evaluating the concrete case for the purpose of liquidating the damage suffered by the injured party, must take into account the consequences suffered by the injured party both in the moral sphere and those affecting the relational level of the latter’s life.