Point of law: whether the impossibility to stop spreading of fire caused by short-circuit may qualify as an insuperable force (an Act of God or major force)?

Alternative attitudes: 1) it may be regarded as an insuperable force, as long as the obliged person (custodian) took all necessary fire safety measures; or 2) it may not, because the circumstances of major force are extraordinary and unavertable phenomena and events whose effect comes from outside and does not depend on subjective (human) factor.

Ratio decidendi: the Presidium deemed the second view to be legally correct and explained that “extraordinary” should imply something exceptional, being outside the limits of “normal” or quotidian, unusual for some or the other living conditions, that does not relate to the risk of life and may not be taken into account under any circumstances. The extraordinary character of major force does not allow qualifying as such any fact of life; its distinction from an occurrence consists in its being based on an objective, and not a subjective, unavertibility.

Practical consequences: the Judgment says that prior court decisions in analogous cases if inconsistent with this interpretation may be reversed in the procedure and within the limits envisaged by Art 311 of the Commercial Procedure Code.