Facts
The case concerns compensation claims of the heirs of a man who died from an asbestos-related cancer. The deceased had lived near an Eternit factory from 1961 to 1972 and had been exposed to asbestos emissions there. In 2004, he was diagnosed with mesothelioma (pleural cancer), from which he died in 2006. His wife and son filed a claim for damages against various defendants in 2009.
The lower instances dismissed the claim due to the statute of limitations. The claimants then appealed to the Federal Supreme Court.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court dismissed the appeal. It stated that under Swiss law, the statute of limitations is a substantive legal institution, and a claim that is asserted around 37 years after the last possible harm is to be considered time-barred.
The Federal Supreme Court did not see in the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in the case of Howald Moor v. Switzerland a basis for denying the statute of limitations in this case. The ECtHR had indeed expressed doubts about the compatibility with the Convention of absolute civil law statutes…