Action brought on 11 February 2013 - Accorinti and Others v ECB

(Case T-79/13)

Language of the case: Italian

Parties

Applicants: Alessandro Accorinti (Nichelino, Italy), Michael Acherer (Bressanone, Italy), Giuliano Agostinetti (Mestre, Italy), Marco Alagna (Milan, Italy), Riccardo Alagna (Milan, Italy), Agostino Amalfitano (Forio, Italy), Emanuela Amsler (Turin, Italy), Francine Amsler (Turin, Italy), Alessandro Anelli (Bellinzago Novarese, Italy), Angelo Giovanni Angione (Potenza, Italy), Giancarlo Antonelli (Verona, Italy), Giuseppe Aronica (Licata, Italy), Elisa Arsenio (Sesto San Giovanni, Italy), Pasquale Arsenio (Sesto San Giovanni, Italy), Luigi Azzano (Concordia Sagittaria, Italy), Giovanni Baglivo (Lecce, Italy), Mario Bajeli (Bergamo, Italy) Stefano Baldoni (Matera, Italy), Giulio Ballini (Lonato, Italy), Antonino Barbara (Naples, Italy), Armida Baron (Cassola, Italy), Paolo Baroni (Rome, Italy), Lucia Benassi (Scandiano, Italy), Michele Benelli (Madignano, Italy), Erich Bernard (Lana, Italy), Flaminia Berni (Rome, Italy), Luca Bertazzini (Monza, Italy), Adriano Bianchi (Casale Corte Cerro, Italy), Massimiliano Bigi (Montecchio Emilia, Italy), Daniele Fabrizio Bignami (Milan, Italy), Sergio Borghesi (Coredo, Italy), Borghesi Srl (Cles, Italy), Sergio Bovini (Cogoleto, Italy), Savino Brizzi (Turin, Italy), Annunziata Brum (Badiola, Italy), Christina Brunner (Laives, Italy), Giovanni Busso (Caselette, Italy), Fabio Edoardo Cacciuttolo (Milan, Italy), Vincenzo Calabrò (Rome, Italy), Carlo Cameranesi (Ancona, Italy), Giuseppe Campisciano (Besana in Brianza, Italy), Allegra Canepa (Pisa, Italy), Luca Canonaco (Como, Italy), Piero Cantù (Vimercate, Italy), Fabio Capelli (Tortona, Italy), Gianluca Capello (Sanremo, Italy), Sergio Capello (Sanremo, Italy), Filippo Caracciolo di Melito (Lucca, Italy), Mario Carchini (Carrara, Italy), Filippo Carosi (Rome, Italy), Elena Carra (Rome, Italy), Claudio Carrara (Nembro, Italy), Ivan Michele Casarotto (Verona, Italy), Anna Maria Cavagnetto (Turin, Italy), Gabriele Lucio Cazzulani (Segrate, Italy), Davide Celli (Rimini, Italy), Antonio Cerigato (Ferrara, Italy), Paolo Enrico Chirichilli (Rome, Italy), Celestino Ciocca (Rome, Italy), Mariagiuseppa Civale (Milan, Italy), Benito Colangelo (Bollate, Italy), Roberto Colicchio (Milan, Italy), Edoardo Colli (Trieste, Italy), Nello Paolo Colombo (Casatenovo, Italy), Mario Concini (Tuenno, Italy), Marika Congestrì (S. Onofrio, Italy), Luigi Corsini (Pistoia, Italy), Maria Chiara Corsini (Genoa, Italy), Aniello Cucurullo (Civitavecchia, Italy), Roberto Cugola (Melara, Italy), Roberto Cupioli (Rimini, Italy), Giuseppe D'Acunto (Lucca - S. Anna, Italy), Stefano D'Andrea (Ancona, Italy), Nazzareno D'Amici (Rome, Italy), Michele Danelon (Gruaro, Italy), Piermaria Carlo Davoli (Milan, Italy), Iole De Angelis (Rome, Italy), Roberto De Pieri (Treviso, Italy), Stefano De Pieri (Martellago, Italy), Ario Deasti (Sanremo, Italy), Stefano Marco Debernardi (Aosta, Italy), Gianfranco Del Mondo (Casoria, Italy), Salvatore Del Mondo (Gaeta, Italy), Gianmaria Dellea (Castelveccana, Italy), Rocco Delsante (Langhirano, Italy), Gianmarco Di Luigi (Sant'Antimo, Italy), Alessandro Di Tomizio (Reggello, Italy), Donata Dibenedetto (Altamura, Italy), Angela Dolcini (Pavia, Italy), Denis Dotti (Milan, Italy), Raffaele Duino (San Martino Buon Albergo, Italy), Simona Elefanti (Montecchio Emilia, Italy), Maurizio Elia (Rome, Italy), Claudio Falzoni (Besnate, Italy), Enrico Maria Ferrari (Rome, Italy), Giuseppe Ferraro (Pago Vallo Lauro, Italy), Fiduciaria Cavour Srl (Rome, Italy), Giorgio Filippello (Caccamo, Italy), Giovanni Filippello (Caccamo, Italy), Dario Fiorin (Venice, Italy), Guido Fortunati (Verona, Italy), Achille Furioso (Agrigento, Italy), Monica Furlanis (Concordia Sagittaria, Italy), Vitaliano Gaglianese (San Giuliano Terme, Italy), Antonio Galbo (Palermo, Italy), Gianluca Gallino (Milan, Italy), Giandomenico Gambacorta (Rome, Italy), Federico Gatti (Besana in Brianza, Italy), Raffaella Maria Fatima Gerardi (Lavello, Italy), Mauro Gini (Bressanone, Italy), Barbara Giudiceandrea (Rome, Italy), Riccardo Grillini (Lugo, Italy), Luciano Iaccarino (Verona, Italy), Vittorio Iannetti (Carrara, Italy), Franz Anton Inderst (Marlengo, Italy), Alessandro Lepore (Giovinazzo, Italy), Hermann Kofler (Merano, Italy), Fabio Lo Presti (Ponte S. Pietro, Italy), Silvia Locatelli (Brembate, Italy), Nicola Lozito (Grumo Appula, Italy), Rocco Lozito (Grumo Appula, Italy), Fabio Maffoni (Soncino, Italy), Silvano Maffoni (Orzinuovi, Italy), Bruno Maironi Da Ponte (Bergamo, Italy), Franco Maironi Da Ponte (Bergamo, Italy), Michele Maironi Da Ponte (Bergamo, Italy), Francesco Makovec (Lesmo, Italy), Concetta Mansi (Matera, Italy), Angela Marano (Melito di Napoli, Italy), Bruno Marchetto (Milan, Italy), Fabio Marchetto (Milan, Italy), Sergio Mariani (Milan, Italy), Lucia Martini (Scandicci, Italy), Alessandro Mattei (Treviso, Italy), Giorgio Matterazzo (Seregno, Italy), Mauro Mazzone (Verona, Italy), Ugo Mereghetti (Brescia, Italy) authorised to act for Fulvia Mereghetti (Casamassima, Italy), Vitale Micheletti (Brescia, Italy), Giuseppe Mignano (Genoa, Italy), Fabio Mingo (Ladispoli, Italy), Giovanni Minorenti (Guidonia Montecelio, Italy), Filippo Miuccio (Rome, Italy), Fulvio Moneta Caglio de Suvich (Milan, Italy), Giancarlo Monti (Milan, Italy), Angelo Giuseppe Morellini (Besana in Brianza, Italy), Barbara Mozzambani (San Martino Buon Albergo, Italy), Mario Nardelli (Gubbio, Italy), Eugenio Novajra (Udine, Italy), Giorgio Omizzolo (Baone, Italy), Patrizia Paesani (Rome, Italy), Daniela Paietta (Arona, Italy), Luigi Paparo (Volla, Italy), Davide Pascale (Milan, Italy), Salvatore Pasciuto (Gaeta, Italy), Sergio Pederzani (Ossuccio, Italy), Aldo Perna (Naples, Italy), Marco Piccinini (San Mauro Torinese, Italy), Nicola Piccioni (Soncino, Italy), Stefano Piedimonte (Naples, Italy), Mauro Piliego (Bolzano, Italy), Vincenzo Pipolo (Rome, Italy), Johann Poder (Silandro, Italy), Giovanni Polazzi (Milan, Italy), Santo Pullarà (Rimini, Italy), Patrizio Ragusa (Rome, Italy), Rosangela Raimondi (Arluno, Italy), Massimo Ratti (Milan, Italy), Gianni Resta (Imola, Italy), Giuseppe Ricciarelli (San Giustino, Italy), Enrica Rivi (Scandiano, Italy), Maria Rizescu (Pesaro, Italy), Alessandro Roca (Turin, Italy), Mario Romeni (Milan, Italy), Claudio Romano (Naples, Italy), Gianfranco Romano (Pisticci, Italy), Ivo Rossi (Nettuno, Italy), Alfonso Russo (Scandiano, Italy), Iginio Russolo (San Quirinino, Italy), Francesco Sabato (Barcelona, Spain), Giuseppe Salvatore (Silvi, Italy), Luca Eudilio Sarzi Amadè, (Milan, Italy), Tiziano Scagliola (Terlizzi, Italy), Antonio Scalzullo (Avellino, Italy), Liviano Semeraro (Gavirate, Italy), Laura Liliana Serpente (Ancona, Italy), Maria Grazia Serpente (Ancona, Italy), Luciana Serra (Milan, Italy), Giuseppe Silecchia (Altamura, Italy), Paolo Sillani (Bergamo, Italy), Vincenzo Solombrino (Naples, Italy), Patrizia Spiezia (Casoria, Italy), Alberto Tarantini (Rome, Italy), Halyna Terentyeva (Concordia Sagittaria, Italy), Vincenzo Tescione (Caserta, Italy), Riccardo Testa (Cecina, Italy), Salvatore Testa (Pontinia, Italy), Nadia Toneatti (Trieste, Italy), Giuseppe Ucci (Como, Italy), Giovanni Urbanelli (Pescara, Italy), Giuseppina Urciuoli (Avellino, Italy), Amelia Vaccaro (Chiavari, Italy), Maria Grazia Valentini (Tuenno, Italy), Nicola Varacalli (Occhieppo Superiore, Italy), Giancarlo Vargiu (Bologna, Italy), Salvatore Veltri Barraco Alestra (Marsala, Italy), Roberto Vernero (Milan, Italy), Vincenza Vigilia (Castello d'Agogna, Italy), Celso Giuliano Vigna (Castel San Pietro Terme, Italy), Roberto Vignoli (Santa Marinella, Italy), Georg Weger (Merano, Italy), Albino Zanichelli (Busana, Italy), Andrea Zecca (Rome, Italy), Maurizio Zorzi (Ora, Italy)

(represented by: S. Sutti and R. Spelta, lawyers)

Defendant: European Central Bank

Form of order sought

The applicants claim that the Court should:

declare the present action admissible;

having determined and assessed the liability of the European Central Bank (ECB) pursuant to Article 340 TFEU, order the defendant to make good the damage arising in the amount of at least EUR 12 504 614.98, or in such other amount as the Court may deem just and fair, subject to updating in the course of the proceedings, together with interest at the statutory rate and default interest on the amount, accruing from the due dates to the date of actual payment;

alternatively, again having determined and assessed the liability of the ECB pursuant to Article 340 TFEU, order the defendant to make good the damage arising in the amount of at least EUR 3 668 020.39, or in such other amount as the Court may deem just and fair, subject to updating in the course of the proceedings, together with interest at the statutory rate and default interest on the amount, accruing from the due dates to the date of actual payment;

in the further alternative, again having determined and assessed the liability of the ECB pursuant to Article 340 TFEU, order the defendant to make good the damage arising in the amount of at least EUR 2 667 651.19, or in such other amount as the Court may deem just and fair, subject to updating in the course of the proceedings, together with interest at the statutory rate and default interest on the amount, accruing from the due dates to the date of actual payment;

in the further and final alternative, order the ECB to make good the damage, on the basis of the lawful nature of the conduct in question or liability without fault, in the amount the Court deems just and fair;

order the ECB to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

The applicants in the present proceedings submit that the defendant has incurred non-contractual liability on account of the manner in which it intervened in the restructuring of the Greek debt, and claim that the ECB is liable pursuant to the third paragraph of Article 340 TFEU, since all the requirements for such liability are satisfied, namely, the alleged conduct of the ECB challenged by the applicants is unlawful, there is actual damage and there is a causal link between the damage and the conduct of the institution itself.

In that connection, the applicants state that the defendant:

concluded in secret with the Hellenic Republic a bond swap agreement dated 15 February 2012;

failed or refused to participate in the restructuring of the Greek debt imposed on the Hellenic State in order to obtain the second tranche of aid, in a conflict of interest, since the ECB is itself part of the Troika;

adopted the decision of 5 March 2012 which made the eligibility of Greek securities as collateral conditional upon the provision of a buy-back scheme in favour of national central banks (NCBs) only, even if lacking credit quality.

In support of the action, the applicants submit that the defendant's course of conduct has had a direct, negative, causal impact on their legal positions which have suffered from the increase in the size of the 'haircut' for private investors, deferment of credit and the downgrading of private investors to the category of 'junior' creditors.

The applicants submit that the conduct in question constitutes a clear infringement of higher rules of law intended to protect individuals, in particular the principles of (i) the equal treatment of creditors, (ii) non-discrimination and equality, (iii) proportionality, (iv) protection of legitimate expectations, (v) the protection of the legitimate expectations of the holders of securities, and (vi) legal certainty.

In the alternative, should the Court of Justice not categorise the ECB's conduct as unlawful, the applicants submit none the less that there is still strict liability or liability without fault on the part of the ECB or liability for a lawful act, since the ECB's course of conduct challenged in the present proceedings has caused abnormal and special harm, in the light also of the fundamental rights as protected by the Charter of Nice, post the Treaty of Lisbon, referred to in Article 17 (property), Article 21 (principle of non-discrimination), Article 38 (consumer protection) and Article 41 (right to good administration) of that charter.

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