Note su interesse ad agire e "frazionamento dei crediti" nei rapporti di durata

In 2017 the Italian Supreme Court developed the so called “prohibition to split the credits” doctrine, stating that different and distinct credit rights pertaining to the same long-term contractual relationship pending among the same parties may not be claimed in separate proceedings, being the matters included in the same scope of a possible res judicata effect or grounded on the same cause of action. The “splitting” is allowed only if the plaintiff proves the existence of an objectively assessable interest as creditor to claim his / her credit rights in separate proceedings in accordance with Article 100 of the Italian Civil Procedure Code. As stated by the Supreme Court, such ruling follows the same trend of expanding the scope of the res judicata effect, which emerges from other recent rulings. However, the 2017 ruling as well as the other rulings are guided by the main purpose to avoid a double evidence gathering by the courts and the consequent dispersion of knowledge of the same “substantial legal affair” in case different proceedings are initiated. Indeed, such judgements do not set forth clear principles within a coherent system of rules; they rather designate “values” as to appraise the best solution to achieve practical results in terms of the judiciary’s efficiency. For the same reason, the Supreme Court failed in the attempt to clarify the notion of “interest to claim” set forth by Article 100 of the Italian Civil Procedure Code in relation to the “prohibition to split the credits” doctrine.