Those who have suffered serious injuries in a road accident, another type of incident, or a medical liability case — even before 5 March 2025 — may find themselves subject to more updated and potentially more favourable compensation criteria. This, in essence, is the practical message arising from a recent and significant ruling by the Court of Cassation.
The Court of Cassation's Ruling: What It Concerns
With judgment no. 8630 of 7 April 2026, the Supreme Court ruled on a preliminary referral submitted pursuant to Art. 363-bis of the Code of Civil Procedure, an instrument that allows courts of merit to directly consult the Court of Cassation on novel or particularly significant questions of law, before deciding the specific case at hand.
The question at the centre of the ruling concerned the applicability of the so-called National Unified Table (T.U.N.), introduced by Presidential Decree (d.P.R.) no. 12/2025, to incidents that occurred prior to its entry into force, set on 5 March 2025. The Court of Cassation's response was clear and far-reaching.
What the National Unified Table Is
Prior to the entry into force of d.P.R. no. 12/2025, the assessment of biological damage arising from macro-injuries — that is, the most serious injuries resulting in significant permanent sequelae — was entrusted to tables drawn up by individual courts, among which the Milan Court's table had over time become the most widely used de facto national reference.
The National Unified Table was established precisely to overcome this fragmentation, introducing a uniform criterion across the entire Italian territory. It constitutes an instrument for the equitable assessment of biological damage, aimed at ensuring equal treatment for victims regardless of the competent court.
The Principle Established by the Court of Cassation: Indirect Retroactivity
The most significant aspect of the ruling concerns the temporal scope of application of the T.U.N. The Court held that the National Unified Table constitutes the preferred parameter for the equitable assessment of biological damage even in relation to incidents that occurred prior to 5 March 2025.
This is achieved through a mechanism of indirect application of Articles 1226 and 2056 of the Civil Code, which govern the equitable assessment of damages. In substance, the T.U.N. does not apply retroactively in the strict legal-technical sense, but rather becomes the reference that the judge is called upon to employ in the exercise of their equitable discretion, even when assessing damages arising from events that predate its establishment.
Equally significant is the subjective extension of the principle: the Court of Cassation clarified that the T.U.N. applies as the preferred parameter not only to road accidents or medical liability cases — but across all areas of tort liability involving serious biological damage, thereby affirming its general scope of application in the equitable assessment of damages under Arts. 1226 and 2056 of the Civil Code.