Court of Monza, judgment 105/2015, on opposition to a payment order obtained by a finance company.
What the case was about
A consumer ordered work from a supplier — window fittings — and paid for it through a loan arranged at the point of sale by a finance company. The work was inadequate. The supplier did not put it right.
The finance company, however, had already paid the supplier and obtained a decreto ingiuntivo against the consumer: a payment order issued without the debtor being heard, which becomes enforceable unless it is opposed within a short deadline. The consumer opposed it.
What the court decided
The two contracts were linked. The loan existed only to pay for that supply, and it was arranged by the supplier itself. Once the supply had failed, the consumer was not left owing the finance company as though nothing had happened. The finance company's claim did not survive the failure of the transaction it financed.
Why it matters
This is the commonest trap in Italian consumer finance. Work is sold at the door, at a trade fair or in a showroom, and the credit is arranged on the spot by the seller. When the work turns out badly, the consumer is told that the loan is a separate matter and must be paid regardless. It is not a separate matter.
And a warning about procedure. A decreto ingiuntivo that is not opposed in time becomes final and enforceable, and the merits can never be argued afterwards. The deadline is short — ordinarily forty days from service. A document that looks like a demand letter is in fact a court order, and the clock is already running when it arrives.