Damage from plasma derivatives and infected blood
Coordinates the study group active in Italy and abroad in defending the interests of hundreds of people and their families in every state and level of judgement: ordinary civil, criminal and labor courts, courts of appeal, Court of Cassation, European Court of Human Rights and federal courts of the United States, obtaining favorable sentences, compensations, indemnities from a wide range of subjects including the Italian Ministry of Health, ASL, Transfusion Centers, insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies.
In the sector of infected plasma derivatives, together with numerous colleagues, he was the attorney of Studio Ambrosio & Commodo who, under the guidance of the US law firm Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein, since 2003 has dealt with the Italian side in the US courts, in the hundreds of Italian hemophiliacs against the pharmaceutical companies Baxter, Bayer, Aventis Behring and Alpha. In the dispute, called "In Re Factor VIII or IX Concentrate Blood Products Litigation - MDL No. 986, No. 1:93cv7452", the industries were accused of having produced with very serious faults, in the late 70s - late 80s 2010s, plasma-derived drugs that transmitted HIV and/or HCV viruses to tens of thousands of hemophiliacs worldwide. Between 2011 and XNUMX, the victims and the families of the deceased reached a settlement agreement with the pharmaceutical companies, and the civil litigation was almost entirely settled.
Always in the field of drugs that transmitted HIV and/or HCV all over the world, together with the attorney Ermanno Zancla and colleagues from his Palermo office, he represented people and associations in some criminal proceedings in Naples, deriving from the trial of Trento (2002-2003) and subsequently of the same capital of Campania (2007-2009), where the best known defendant was the former director of the pharmaceutical service of the Ministry of Health, Duilio Poggiolini. The object of the Neapolitan investigations were the murders of more than 600 of our compatriots, always haemophiliacs, the infections of thousands of others and the ascertainment of the criminal responsibilities of managers and administrators. Since hemophiliacs infected in the 70s and 80s continue to die year after year from the diseases transmitted to them by plasma-derived drugs, and they die at ages dramatically lower than those expected in the normal population (44 years, on average, in the last 15 deaths studied from Stefano Bertone between 2006 and 2013 in people with HIV and HCV dual pathology, compared to an expected average life span of 70 years for the non-infected population of the same age), a very strong public interest persists in the search for the truth about this international crime still without written guilty parties.
In December 2013, after 5 years of permanence in investigations and at the request of the offended persons and associations represented by Stefano Bertone and Ermanno Zancla, the Public Prosecutor of Naples Dr. Ucci filed a new request for indictment for both Duilio Poggiolini and Guelfo Marcucci and some executives of the Italian companies Farmabiagini and Aimaderivati. The defendants were indicted for aggravated multiple manslaughter with decrees of the GUP of Naples De Falco Giannone, of 9 May and 13 November 2014. The hearing opened on 21 December 2015 and took place in VI section. Criminal, the judge was Dr. Palumbo Antonio. During the trial, Marcucci Guelfo, founder of the pharmaceutical group of the same name, died. In 2016 and 2017 the witnesses were heard and a medico-legal report was carried out. The Naples prosecutor's office, represented in the courtroom by a different magistrate from the one who formulated the charges in 2013, unfortunately played a secondary role and little commitment in the process, not even remotely up to the charges and dramas that have affected the families.
A total of more than 60 hearings were held during the trial and dozens of witnesses were heard. In the final stages, the Ministry of Health, which had initially appeared as a civil party against the defendants, did not attend the hearings and did not file the conclusions, giving up in fact and in law the compensation claim it had presented. The prosecution asked for acquittal for all the accused.
With sentence of 25.03.2019, published on 24.6.2019, the Court of Naples fully acquitted all the defendants including the executives of the former pharmaceutical group Marcucci and Duilio Poggiolini, from the disputed charges "because the fact does not exist”. In a nutshell, the Court of Naples held that neither the causal link nor the guilt of the defendants in relation to the 8 deaths for which the trial had taken place had been proven. An unexpected and surprising decision.
The civil parties, isolated in the process also by the Ministry of Health which was at the beginning by their side, have decided not to appeal.
The sentence has now become final and for those 8 deaths the defendants are innocent.
The judicial affair lasted two decades and has documentary foundations that tell a completely different story.
It should also be remembered that no trial was held in Italy against the managers of the other companies, which alone owned 93% of the Italian market, and whose drugs were also used by the 8 deceased hemophiliacs for whom the trial was held.
Damage from pharmaceutical products
Stefano has successfully assisted drug victims in various litigations.
Very often the reason on which the fault of the producers is based is the insufficient, if not completely absent, information contained in the package leaflets, the so-called leaflets, in violation of various Italian and European regulations. As the experience of the US litigation shows, with targeted investigations it is possible to prove the internal awareness of pharmaceutical companies on a certain undesirable effect: it will frequently be discovered that this has been known for some time (more or less long), either because it is reported by scientific doctrine, partly because it emerged in the course of clinical trials carried out by the same industries, but that they kept it hidden from the public, leaving the final consumers unaware of the risks.
In addition to the cases of plasma derivatives, we recall the victorious case against:
Pfizer, for pathological gambling disorder arising after the use of drugs (Cabaser and Mirapexin) for the treatment of symptoms of Parkinson's disease; the Court of Milan in 2020 and the Court of Appeal of Milan in 2021 sentenced Pfizer to compensate the pecuniary damage, i.e. the money lost gambling, and the moral damage suffered by a customer due to the lack of information on the package leaflet of the pernicious adverse reaction.
- Several other reports received by our firm are currently the subject of investigation and pre-judicial preparation.
Maritime accidents
In the field of maritime accidents, together with colleagues from the Global Justice Network of which he is a founding member, he has assisted victims and family members of passengers transported on board the ferry Norman Atlantic (IMO 9435466), owned by Visemar by Navigazione Srl and chartered by Anek Lines, which was set on fire and wrecked on 28 December 2014 en route between Igoumenitsa (Greece) and Ancona causing numerous injuries and dozens of deaths. In December 2016, proceedings for compensation began in Bari for about 50 surviving passengers and the families of 9 deceased passengers, involving shipowners, contract carriers, the shipyard and RINA Services SpA (a company of the RINA SpA group), the latter regarding the surveillance during the construction phase and the certification during the maritime activities of the ship up to the moment of the fire.
In 2021 and 2022, all the lawsuits initiated by our studies for more than 100 passengers on board and the 9 families of those who lost their lives have been settled.
Together with other colleagues he assisted the relatives of some of the crew members who died in the ship's accident Costa Concordia (IMO 9320544) which took place on January 13, 2012.
Still in the maritime field, he deals with the shipwreck of theAl Salam Boccaccio '98 (IMO 6921282), former Tirrenia ferry which caught fire and sank in the Red Sea on the night of 2 February 2006, killing more than a thousand passengers and crew. In this case, the Ambrosio & Commodo law firm assists the rights of hundreds of family members of the victims within an international consortium made up of numerous law firms, including Robert Lieff, BCV Lex, Yasser Fathy, Marco Bona, at the Court of Genoa against of the company RINA SpA and Ente Rina, in various capacities since 1969 ferry classifiers and R/O (Recognized Organization) for the issue of DOC and SMC safety certificates. The trial is pending in the Court of Genoa and represents the largest shipwreck and loss of life lawsuit pending in the world.
In 2020 the European Court of Justice first and then the United Sections Court of Cassation, in accepting the requests of the Consortium, denied that RINA SpA could take advantage of the exception of immunity from foreign jurisdiction for being the ship with the Panamanian flag, and confirmed that the case must continue in Genoa where it is currently in the preliminary phase.
In 2022 and 2023 he always represented together with colleagues from the Global Justice Network several dozen passengers transported on board the ferry Euroferry Olympia owned by Grimaldi, as well as numerous transport companies. On February 18, 2022, the vessel caught fire on a smooth night crossing of the Adriatic, killing 9 of the approximately 400 people on board. In the summer of 2023, our natural person customers were compensated by Grimalby following a settlement agreement without acknowledgment of fault. Criminal investigations continue in Greece and Italy, as do litigation for economic damages to road haulage companies.
On February 26, 2023, a terrible event killed more than 90 passengers in the sinking of the boat Summer Love departed from Turkey and headed for Italy with hundreds of migrants of Afghan, Palestinian, Syrian, Iranian nationality on board. The event took place in Steccato by Cutro, in the province of Crotone, Calabria. We are part of an extensive pool of attorneys who assist numerous family members of the deceased and of the deceased, including numerous boys and girls.
Air accidents
In the aviation sector, together with numerous Italian and foreign colleagues, he assisted the families of two of the ten Italian victims of the flight AF 447 of 1 June 2009 between Rio de Janeiro and Paris CDG. The dispute between the families, Air France and the latter's insurer, AXA, was settled in the summer of 2011 in London with a settlement before the judgment. Protected the family of a young Italian pilot who lost his life in an accident in Croatia and due to erroneous maneuvers attributable to the flight school Pilot Training Network, belonging to the Lufthansa Group. The family of the young pilot has agreed to settle the case initiated at the Court of Rome. Stefano also supported his colleague Ermanno Zancla from Palermo by protecting passengers injured in the landing accident on 24 September 2010 at Palermo Punta Raisi airport, flight Windjet IV 230.
Damages from mobile phones
Stefano Bertone he has been studying the question of the mobile phones and the possibility, supported by a large part of independent scientific doctrine, and already certified by the Italian Court of Cassation in 2012, that the related electromagnetic waves are harmful to health, being able to favor the onset of benign tumors such as acoustic neuroma, or malicious like the glioblastoma multiforme, as well as the breaking of the DNA.
Ambrosio & Commodo thus protects the APPLE (Association for the Prevention and Fight against Electrosmog) in a lawsuit against several Italian ministries before the Lazio TAR, which was asked to order an information campaign on health risks. The government formed itself asking for the case to be rejected.
Stefano also assists some workers who had applied unsuccessfully to INAIL for an occupational disease pension for having developed head or parotid cancer due to exposure to mobile phones.
Ad April 2017 the Court of Ivrea denied INAIL's position, condemning it to pay the annuity to the worker we assist. This is the first sentence in the world, in the first instance, to have stated that the acoustic neuroma was caused by exposure to radio frequencies transmitted by telephones mobile phones.
The Court reached this conclusion on the basis of ex officio legal advice. There Court of Appeal of Turin in 2020 after further technical consultancy, it confirmed the first instance ruling. INAIL accepted the defeat and did not appeal, making the decision judged.
The same happened in another case decided by the Court of Appeal in 2022 and it too has become definitive.
Together with colleagues and various technical consultants, he sponsored some non-profit causes of national public interest: in 2019 the Lazio Regional Administrative Court accepted the application of the APPLE association of Padua against the Italian government, and ordered to inform the population about the health risks from the use of mobile phones.
Other cases are in progress, others still in the pre-judicial preparation phase. At the bottom and at the beginning of his page you will find the warning about the use of wireless networks and mobile phones, which according to Stefano you should consider only emergency radio.
Different civil liability
Attorney Bertone is also involved in assisting victims of medical errors, environmental pollution and other types of crimes against the person.
In 2023 the Court of Milan upheld an appeal by the Italian Apnoic Association, represented by Stefano and by the colleagues, as well as by ADUSBEF, against Philips SpA and Respironics Deutschland Gmbh Kg. The lawsuit requested that the company withdraw from the market more quickly some non-compliant medical devices which according to the company itself exposed users to serious health risks as well as the risk of losing their lives.
Philips has appealed, requesting the suspension of the Court's ruling.
Il 31 January 2024 the Court of Appeal of Milan he rejected the appeal, giving our clients are right, confirming that the corrective action was Philips' responsibility, which is not finished, and has condemned the companies to pay a penalty of €20.000 per day for not having completed the campaign between 30.6.2023 and 30.01.2024, as well as €10.000 per day from 31.01.2024 until all defective devices have been collected.
The Ministry of Health had indicated 31.12.2022 as the deadline.
In 2007 he was part of the group of attorneys who assisted the families of the workers who died in the fire of the Thyssen Krupp of Turin, participating in the definition of attack strategies, including the request for punitive damages.
Together with other colleagues he protected the family members of a victim who was overwhelmed and killed by a train at the Viareggio station. The lawsuit was settled by Trenitalia, which compensated the relatives before the trial, after the Lazio Regional Administrative Court, on the initiative of the Firm, had sentenced her to exhibit all the documents of the internal investigation.
Together with my colleague Chiara Ghibaudo successfully represented a patient in a complex medical liability lawsuit against the Cà Granda Foundation - Maggiore Hospital of Milan; obtained a favorable settlement definition from the ASL of Belluno for the damage, in hospital, to an American skater injured in a downhill race; defends women who have suffered damage during cosmetic surgery operations, represents a inmate who became ill seriously through negligence of the prison administration, in a lawsuit against the Ministry of Justice, and coordinates the group of attorneys of Ambrosio & Commodo in relation to the damage from defective breast implants "PIP".
Dieselgate
The attorney Bertone has been studying the controversy over polluting emissions since 2015: together with other colleagues he launched the first judicial initiative in Italy in October of that year. He is the defender of the only private offended party to have participated in the probative incident ordered by the GIP of the Court of Verona in the investigation by the prosecutor on VW top management. On behalf of the firm and together with colleagues Bona and Oliva he looks after the interests of around 200 Italians who, with the assistance of colleagues in Germany, sued Volkwagen AG in German courts in 2019.
Together with Italian and foreign colleagues, he also investigates further cases of mass damage occurring both in Italy and abroad for which the dispute has not yet been started.
Different judicial activities
Stefano Bertone it also carries out so-called pro bono protection activities in court, i.e. without being paid.
Since 2007, together with numerous other colleagues in Turin and outside Turin, he has represented and represents persons under investigation, accused or sued for their opposition to the project for the construction of an additional (high-speed) railway line between Turin and Lyon, as well as citizens seeking information from the public administration. In this context, he also represent offended people who have filed a civil action in criminal proceedings against some of the subjects in favor of the project for aggravated defamation.
In 2011 he filed a lawsuit against the Ministry of the Interior on behalf of two of the leaders of the supporters of the Turin football team, obtaining the lifting of the travel ban on 20 May 2011 in Empoli for those who did not possess the so-called "fan card" ". In this way, hundreds of grenade supporters, including Stefano, were able to attend the match without suffering the unconstitutional limitations imposed by the 'card'.
He is a founding member of the Global Justice Network, of which he has been president since February 2023, of the Italian Association on Personal Injury (AIDAP), and is a member of AIDC - Italian Association of Comparative Law, of PEOPIL - Pan-European Association of Jurists working in the field of Civil Liability -, and of ATLA – Association of Trial Attorneys of America (now AAJ).
He has publications on the subject of personal injury:
- MONATERI, BONA, OLIVA, PECCENINI and TULLINI, Damage to the person, Volume II, Utet, Turin, 2000. - Chap. XXI, Damage to the person from environmental disaster.
- BERTONE, The international drama of infected blood products, www.dannoallapersona.it, Turin, 2003.
- PIGNATTA, BERTONE, Sangue e Affari, the story of an international scandal in the pharmaceutical industry, Frilli Editori, Genoa, 2004.
- BONA, MONATERI, IADECOLA, BERTONE, AMBROSIO, BONZIGLIA, CASTIGLIONI, VIRZÌ, GRIBALDI and CATALANO, The causal link in personal injury, Ipsoa, Milan, 2005 - Chap. VIII, The causal link in HBV, HCV and HIV (with Marco Bona).
- BONA, MONATERI, IADECOLA, BERTONE, AMBROSIO, BONZIGLIA, CASTIGLIONI, VIRZÌ, GRIBALDI and CATALANO, The causal link in personal injury, Ipsoa, Milan, 2005 - Chap. IX, The causal link in the damage caused by smoking (together with David Gribalby and Marco Bona).
- BERTONE, Cass. Section U., 11 November 2008, n. 26972, over a year later: a futile, imaginary and intolerant decision, 2010, in Person and Damage.
- BERTONE, Sister Gertrude and the new impositions of will: the ridicule of compulsory mediation ex d. lgs. 4.03.2010 n. 28, 2011, in Person and Damage.
- BERTONE, ARNONE, ZANCLA "Compensation from vaccines: an additional limit falls" - C. Cost. 107/2012, 2012, in Person and Damage.
- BERTONE “A phone call (with the cell phone) shortens your life - Cass. n. 17438/2012 ", in Person and Damage.
- BERTONE "A phone call (with your cell phone) shortens your life (Cass. N. 17438/2012, second episode)", in Person and Damage.
- LEVIS, BERTONE, Critical comment upon nature / editorial on “murky maneuvers”, Nature: 491, 7, 2012: www.nature.com/news/murky-manoeuvres-1.11678.
He is a consultant and member of the "Committee 210/92 ... for fair justice", an association that aims to increase and improve the protection for people affected by HCV and / or HIV infections due to blood products and blood infected, and to identify and convict those responsible for the crimes committed (epidemic, multiple manslaughter). He regularly participates in the annual meetings of the Lagev associations - Free Association of Parents and Hemophiliacs of Veneto and Arlafe - Ligurian Regional Association Affiliated to the Hemophilia Federation.
He has been speaker / moderator at various conferences, including:
- "Compensation for damage from transfusion and administration of infected blood and blood products", Palermo, Aula Magna of the Palace of Justice, 18 September 2006
- International conference, Italy - USA compared. Damage and liability in light of the new consumer code, Turin, 23 May 2006
- Global Justice Forum 2006 - Litigating Plaintiffs' Claims Internationally - Paris, France, May 18-19, 2006;
- Spring Global Justice Forum 2007 - Rome, May 16-18, 2007;
- Study day harm to the person. "Damaged: signed or protected?", Belluno, 14 September 2007
- Fall 2007 Global Justice Forum - New York City, Columbia University, November 2, 2007.
- “Infected blood damage, what responsibilities? From the local reality to the global problem ", Trento, Faculty of Law, Department of Juridical Sciences and Elsa, 23 April 2009
- Fall 2009 Global Justice Forum - New York City, Columbia University, October 15-17, 2009
- “Drug damage. The US experience and the role of the class action: the Gullone case", Turin, Council of the Bar Association, 13 April 2011.
- Fall 2011 Global Justice Forum - New York City, Columbia University, October 13-15, 2011
- Fall 2013 Global Justice Forum - New York City, Columbia University, October 11, 2013
- "The utility of the black box of major (air) and naval disasters", Turin, Centro Stuby San Carlo, 19 June 2015.
- “Strategies for the Improvement of Working Conditions within Global Supply Chains”, Berlin, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, September 3-4, 2015
- “Prevention and treatment of medico-legal disputes in infectious diseases: comparing opinions. Jurisprudence. Clinical cases that made history" XVII SIMIT Congress - Italian Society of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, Turin Lingotto, 5 December 2018
- “Access to justice and litigation quota agreements: what prospects?” Turin, Palace of Justice, 27 June 2019
- "The right to health in the age of electrosmog - Civil law and administrative law remedies" - Trento, 4 July 2019
- "The right to health to the test of 5G technology", Cosenza, Palazzo degli Specchi, 28 October 2019
Language skills
English, French and Spanish
