Italy’s Supreme Court has ruled that a loud flushing toilet violated the human rights of a couple living in a neighboring flat
A couple has won a drawn-out legal fight over a loud flushing toilet after Italy’s Supreme Court found that their human rights were violated. The battle kicked off in 2003 after four brothers who lived near Italy’s La Spezia city built a new toilet in their flat. They were quickly complained by their next-door neighbors that the noise they heard during the night made them wake up.
They were right next to the bathroom, and their bed was up against it.
Judge dismissed the original complaint seeking resolution to the noise issue and damages. Genoa’s appeals court overturned that dismissal and stated after an investigation that the flush sound was “a large excess of three decibels over the threshold required.”
The four brothers were ordered to modify the flush and pay around €500 ($567.40) for every year since the toilet was installed. They took the case to Italy’s highest appeals court, which also backed the couple, agreeing the flush had a negative effect on their life. The court ruled that flushing violated their constitutional right. “respect one’s own private and family life”The couple had the right to Article 8 under the European Convention on Human Rights.
The defeat in Italy’s highest court marked the end of a nearly 20-year legal battle for the neighbors. Accordingly, the Genoa appeals Court has given its ruling. The brothers will have to pay the fee outlined and also move the water tank making the noise.
Italian newspaper Il Giornale, mocking the slow pace of the country’s judicial system, joked that the toilet dispute had taken longer than it did for Albert Einstein to write his theory of relativity.
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