No reduction when combining impairment percentages

ATA/281/1996Court of Justice / Administrative ChamberMay 21, 1996Modified

Extracted by Omnilex

Omnilex summary

An insured person sustained an eye injury and a foot injury in an accident, each resulting in a 5% impairment of bodily integrity. The court held that no reduction was warranted when combining the two assessments, because the injuries concern different bodily domains and do not diminish one another. The individual percentages were therefore added together, resulting in a total impairment compensation of 10%.

Omnilex headnote

Art. 24 LAA; assessment of impairment of bodily integrity where several accident-related injuries coexist: distinct injuries affecting different bodily functions are to be assessed separately and, absent any overlap or mutual reduction of their impact, the respective percentages are to be added. No reduction of the global impairment rate is justified merely because the insured person suffers from another impairment in a different bodily region or functional sphere; the decisive question is whether one injury actually diminishes the seriousness of the other (consid. unspecified).

Full text

Descripteurs

ASSURANCE SOCIALE; ACCIDENT; AA; ATTEINTE A L'INTEGRITE; ASSU

Normes

LAA.24

Résumé

Cas d'un assuré ayant subi, à la suite d'un accident, une lésion de l'oeil et une lésion au pied entraînant chacune un taux d'atteinte à l'intégrité de 5%. Il n'y a pas lieu d'opérer de réduction sur le taux global de l'atteinte à l'intégrité. Le fait que l'assuré soit atteint au pied ne diminue en rien l'importance de l'atteinte qu'il subit d'un point de vue ophtalmologique et inversément. Il convient donc d'additionner les taux proposés et de retenir une indemnité pour atteinte à l'intégrité de 10 % au total.

Keywords

social insuranceaccidentimpairment of bodily integrityaccident insurancecombined assessment

Extracted by Omnilex

Key legal questions extracted by Omnilex

Key legal question

Whether the impairment percentages for two unrelated bodily injuries must be reduced when determining the global impairment compensation under accident insurance law.

Extracted holding

The impairment percentages must be added; no reduction is justified because the foot injury does not lessen the ophthalmological impairment, and vice versa.

Extracted reasoning

The two injuries affect different bodily functions and cannot diminish one another. The global impairment therefore equals the sum of the individual assessments.

No reduction when combining impairment percentagesAI generated