Lawsuit by Rida Ambiente against the citizens of Aprilia: the Court of Appeal of Rome “blocks” the payment in favor of the citizens
There first civil section of the Court of Appeal of Rome has suspended the executive effect of the sentence contested by the company Rida Ambiente srlwhich, as is known, manages the Aprila mechanical biological treatment plant, into which the undifferentiated waste from most of the Pontine municipalities flows, including the largest in terms of quantity, i.e. Latina and Aprilia itself.
Last December, Rida Ambiente lost after filing a lawsuit against dozens of citizens who had denounced, through a public letter, the pollution produced by the plant itself. It was the citizens of the Aprilia area who raised the issue the problem of pollution, the oncological risk and the authorizations for the plant itself.
“The worrying deterioration of the environmental, landscape and territorial quality of the Municipality of Aprilia which has been occurring for over 10 years now near via Gorgona/via Valcamonica in Aprilia, Loc. Sacida-Campoverde and part of the Civil Engineering Department, – the citizens wrote in a passage of the detailed public complaint, peppered with various testimonies – it has transformed the life of around 5,000 inhabitants of the area, originally of a rural nature, into a nightmare reported several times – but ignored“.
The citizens, however, after having signed the public complaint, were sued by the Rida Ambiente company to obtain compensation for damages attributable to alleged defamation in the press. The company and its dominus, the entrepreneur Fabio Altissimi, considered themselves defamed by the writing and the civil case ended up before the judge of the Court of Latina, 1st civil section, Concetta Serino.
Rida Ambiente asked the Court of Latina to condemn each citizen who signed the letter to compensation 5,100 euros to be “donated to charity”. In the end, the civil judge ruled against Altissimi’s company which complained of defamation and disclosure in newspapers and information sites.
According to the Civil Court of Latina, “the statements contained in the open letter under dispute can be considered a legitimate expression of the right to criticize“, as “the interest underlying the topics covered by the letter is evident, given the proposed violation of goods of constitutional importance such as the right to health and a healthy environment, such as subjective rights of collective importance“.
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THEY REPORTED THE POLLUTION TO APRILIA: “LEGITIMATE RIGHT TO CRITICISM”. RIDA LOSES THE CASE WITH THE CITIZENS.
The patron Altissimi should have compensated approximately 64 citizens the sum of 4,100 euros each, in addition to expenses. “It would have” because the sentence was challenged before the Court of Appeal which, postponing the discussion on the merits to 9 July 2026, suspended the payment of the sums in favor of the citizens themselves, defended by the lawyer Barbara Ori.
According to the order of the first section, “the conditions exist for the suspension of the executive effectiveness of the contested sentence (containing a sentence to pay the litigation costs), since the decision relating to the litigation costs appears to be in conflict with the criteria for the payment of lawyer’s fees”.
In essence, the head of the sentence relating to the payment of expenses appears to be completely non-compliant. Translated: Rida Ambiente was condemned to pay an abnormal amount. However, this does not mean that citizens are not right on the merits. It will take two years to find out.
