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Broken tooth while eating noodles as accident

ATA/406/1996Court of Justice / Administrative ChamberJul 31, 1996Confirmed

Open source

Extracted by Omnilex

Omnilex summary

The court held that an insured person who fractured a tooth while eating noodles suffered an accident. Medical expertise established that the tooth was sufficiently solid that it would not have broken during normal chewing and that a hard foreign body must have been present in the food. Encountering such an object in a dish of noodles constitutes an extraordinary external cause within the meaning of Art. 9 para. 1 OLAA.

Omnilex headnote

Art. 9 al. 1 OLAA; accident concept and extraordinary external cause: a tooth fracture during eating may qualify as an accident where expert evidence establishes, on the balance of probabilities, that normal mastication would not have caused the break and that a hard foreign body in the food was necessary; the presence of such an object constitutes an extraordinary external factor.

Full text

Descripteurs

ASSURANCE SOCIALE; ACCIDENT; AA; AFFECTION DENTAIRE; CAUSE EXTERIEURE EXTRAORDINAIRE; ASSU

Normes

OLAA.9 al.1

Résumé

Cas d'un assuré se fracturant une dent en mangeant un plat de nouilles. L'expertise a pu établir au degré de la vraisemblance prépondérante que la dent était assez solide pour n'avoir pas pu se casser durant un acte masticatoire banal, mais qu'il avait au contraire fallu la présence d'un corps étranger dur. Le fait de rencontrer un tel objet dans un plat de nouilles constitue un événement extérieur extraordinaire au sens de la définition de l'accident de l'article 9 alinéa 1 OLAA.

Keywords

social insuranceaccidenttooth fractureforeign bodyextraordinary external causeexpert evidence

Extracted by Omnilex

Key legal questions extracted by Omnilex

Key legal question

Whether the tooth fracture while eating noodles qualifies as an accident under Art. 9 para. 1 OLAA.

Extracted holding

Yes. Finding a hard foreign body in the dish was an extraordinary external event within the meaning of the accident definition.

Extracted reasoning

The expert report showed, on a balance of probabilities, that the tooth was strong enough not to have fractured during ordinary chewing; the break therefore required the presence of a hard foreign object, which is an external extraordinary factor.

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