Attendance allowance backdated to reassessment: a fresh appeal expert assessment proves decisive

The date of an expert examination does not necessarily establish when eligibility for a social assistance benefit began. In judgment No. 667 of 2 May 2024, the Bari Court of Appeal awarded the Italian attendance allowance from the medical reassessment date, bringing forward the starting date set at first instance on a different medico-legal assessment.

The Tribunal had recognised entitlement from 12 September 2022, the date of the expert examination, when it considered evidence of deterioration to have emerged. The appeal challenged that date and sought recognition from suspension. The case concerned a minor; reproducing the diagnoses is unnecessary to explain the legal issue.

The Court commissioned a new expert report. On reassessing the documentation, the expert found medical eligibility already established at the reassessment on 7 September 2020. The Court accepted those conclusions as comprehensive, sound and free of logical or methodological defects preventing reliance on them.

Allowing the appeal to that extent, the Court recognised entitlement from 7 September 2020 rather than 12 September 2022 and ordered INPS to pay the instalments and statutory ancillary amounts within the legal limits. It also revised the first-instance costs decision, ordering INPS to bear those costs together with the appeal and expert assessment costs.

A 10% increase in legal fees was awarded for useful hyperlinks in the submissions. The decision therefore concerns both proof of the correct medical starting date through a fresh expert assessment and recognition of digital drafting techniques that facilitated consultation of the documents.

View the court decision (PDF) ↗

https://studiolegalecelentano.com/en/news/hyperlinks-in-pleadings-and-increased-legal-fees