Court of Appeal of Venezia, judgment of 13 July 2026, No. 1576

A non-final judgment which has become res judicata, by which the ordinary court declines its jurisdiction on the ground that the dispute has been referred to arbitration, does not preclude the incidental examination, solely for the purposes of deciding the claims remaining within its cognisance, of the question referred to the arbitrators, where the party has not sought a separate ruling capable of acquiring the force of res judicata.
A determination with the force of res judicata of the question referred to the arbitrators is required only where a specific statutory provision so imposes, so that, failing such provision, the examination of that same question incidenter tantum gives rise neither to a duplication of proceedings nor to any risk of conflicting decisions.
Once the existence of a contractual link between the contract referred to arbitration and that remaining within the cognisance of the ordinary court has been ruled out, the question of staying the state proceedings pending the outcome of the challenge to the award no longer arises.