Isochimica Case, the State's Defeat: After 30 Years, Compensation Under the Pinto Law Arrives

Avellino – Over three decades of waiting for the conclusion of a bankruptcy proceeding initiated in the early 1990s and still formally ongoing. This bureaucratic and regulatory paradox adds to the already tragic human and health tragedy at Isochimica Borgo Ferrovia, the Avellino plant infamous for the asbestos exposure of hundreds of workers. Today, due to these colossal delays by the judicial system, the Italian state is left footing the bill.

The verdict of the Neapolitan magistrates

The VIII Civil Section of the Court of Appeal of Naples has accepted the appeals presented by approximately twenty former employees of the Irpinia company, all assisted by the lawyer Augusto Guerriero.

Neapolitan magistrates have issued a series of convictions against the Ministry of Justice, ordering the payment of fair compensation—quantified at several thousand euros for each worker—as compensation for the violation of the reasonable length of the trial.

The violated parameters and the Pinto Law

The rulings are based on Law No. 89 of March 24, 2001 (the so-called Pinto Law), created to penalize the excessive slowness of Italian courts and protect citizens from non-pecuniary damages. In the Isochimica case, the breach of the legal limits was striking: the law sets the maximum duration for bankruptcy proceedings at six years.

The Irpinia process has exceeded the thirty-year threshold, more than fivefold exceeding the legal timeframe and in clear violation of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

A heavy price for the community

The appeals filed by the former workers' lawyer have thus vindicated a right denied for decades. For the workers involved, this represents a partial and belated act of justice. While it does not erase the profound human, social, and health scars of one of the most painful industrial disputes in Southern Italy, it highlights the fiscal responsibilities of the judicial system, the costs of which inevitably end up falling on the entire community.