Overview

• The ruling overturns an earlier Parma court decision that had awarded the payout to the family.
• The court ordered the return of €200,000 and roughly €24,000 in legal costs to the insurer.
• The panel held that a Covid-19 infection is not an accident under the policy because the harm’s effect may be violent but not its cause.
• Judges Fiore, Rossi and Gaudioso emphasized that coverage turns on the contract’s definitions, reflecting Cassation guidance that legal meaning prevails over clinical labels.
• The policy was written years before the pandemic and did not expressly cover infectious diseases, and the widow’s lawyer, Francesca Barbuti, is considering a Cassation appeal amid inconsistent lower-court rulings.