LUCCA. Those 50 euros of diesel paid on January 25th three years ago at the petrol station of a petrol station in Lucca were the beginning of an ordeal for the owner of the Maserati Ghibli which broke down after a few kilometres. The dealership’s mechanics discovered the reason when they analyzed the fuel: water and mud in the diesel had knocked out the supercar.
For that unpleasant surprise, the motorist had requested compensation for damages from the service station management company, which had denied responsibility for the car’s breakdown. An argument rejected by the judge Silvia Morelli which condemned the private individuals to compensate the owner who remained without a car for almost a month and who had advanced the repair costs with over 20 thousand euros, including litigation costs.
The judge writes that “there is no concrete evidence, not even of a circumstantial nature, that the damages complained of by the plaintiff are attributable – as claimed by the company – to a defect in the car or to an external cause which occurred during the period (indeed of a few hours) in which the vehicle remained parked in the car park adjacent to the studio. Conversely, there are multiple converging, precise and reliable pieces of evidence, from which it is possible to deduce with a high degree of probability suitable for obtaining proof that the disputed failure is attributable to the refueling carried out on 25 January 2021 at the petrol station.” Around 10 am the owner moved towards his professional studio which is a few hundred meters away. So he had parked the Maserati. At 1pm he picked her up to go home. Immediately after the warning lights indicating engine failure came on, he headed to the Maserati garage in Prato, «which found the presence of impure fuel taken from the car’s tank and made it available to allow it to be refilled. ‘examination”. The consultant appointed by the judge was clear. «From the investigations carried out, it can be seen that the damage detected is certainly attributable to fuel pollution since: inside the fuel system only sludge and impurities left by the mixture of water and diesel fuel were found (characterised by a significant percentage of water and impurities) found inside the fuel»l
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