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Accident-related limitations only in disability assessment

ATA/397/1997Court of Justice / Administrative ChamberJun 24, 1997Confirmed

Open source

Extracted by Omnilex

Omnilex summary

The dispute concerned the CNA's assessment of disability after an accident. The court held that the CNA had properly conducted the required economic inquiry by asking seven Geneva employers for detailed information on suitable jobs, including the work content, necessary training, working posture, and expected earnings. It also held that back pain unrelated to the accident did not have to be taken into account in the CNA assessment. This justified the difference from invalidity insurance, which had assessed disability at 60%.

Omnilex headnote

Art. 18 al. 2 LAA; assessment of loss of earning capacity in accident insurance. The determining factor is the accident-related reduction in earning capacity; complaints lacking causal link to the insured accident are excluded from the assessment. The insurer may base the economic inquiry on sufficiently concrete information from potential employers concerning the nature of the work, required training, working posture, and achievable income. A divergent invalidity-insurance assessment does not preclude a different result where the relevant causal and assessment criteria differ.

Full text

Descripteurs

AFFECTION DU PIED; INVALIDITE(INFIRMITE); INCAPACITE DE TRAVAIL; INCAPACITE DE GAIN; CAUSALITE; LESION DE LA COLONNE VERTEBRALE; EVALUATION DE L'INVALIDITE; ACTIVITE HYPOTHETIQUE; ENQUETE ECONOMIQUE; RENTE D'INVALIDITE; ASSURANCE SOCIALE; ASSU

Normes

LAA.18 al.2

Résumé

La CNA a convenablement procédé à l'enquête économique requise en obtenant de 7 entreprises genevoises des explications circonstanciées s'agissant d'emplois à la portée de la recourante, notamment en ce qui concernait la nature du travail proposé et la formation exigée, la position dans laquelle il pouvait être effectué, ainsi que les gains qu'il permettait de réaliser. Les douleurs dorsales n'étant pas liées à l'accident, c'est à bon droit que la CNA n'en a pas tenu compte dans cette évaluation, contrairement à l'assurance-invalidité, ce qui justifie la différence d'appréciation (15 % pour la CNA et 60 % pour l'AI).

Keywords

accident insuranceinvalidityloss of earning capacitycausalityeconomic inquirydisability assessmentback pain

Extracted by Omnilex

Key legal questions extracted by Omnilex

Key legal question

Whether the CNA sufficiently carried out the required economic inquiry by contacting seven Geneva companies about suitable jobs.

Extracted holding

Yes. The CNA adequately conducted the inquiry by obtaining detailed explanations from seven Geneva companies on the type of work, required training, working position, and attainable earnings.

Extracted reasoning

The court accepted that the employers provided sufficiently concrete information to identify jobs within the claimant's capacities and to assess the resulting earnings capacity.

Key legal question

Whether back pain not causally linked to the accident had to be included in the disability assessment.

Extracted holding

No. Non-accident-related back pain could properly be disregarded in the CNA's assessment.

Extracted reasoning

Since the dorsal pain was not caused by the accident, the CNA was entitled to exclude it from the evaluation; the different approach of invalidity insurance explained the divergent disability rates.

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