Facts
This judgment concerns a dispute between the Disability Insurance Fund of the Canton of Berne (IV-Stelle Bern) and an insured person, Z. The dispute relates to the insured person's right to consult the file and the violation of their right to be heard in the opposition proceedings. The IV-Stelle Bern issued a decision on 24 November 2003, which was contested by the insured person. The cantonal court annulled this decision due to a violation of the right to be heard and referred the case back to the IV-Stelle Bern so that it could grant the insured person the right to be heard and issue a new decision.
The parties involved are the Disability Insurance Fund of the Canton of Berne (IV-Stelle Bern) and the insured person, Z. The case was handled by the cantonal court of the Canton of Berne, which issued its decision on 14 July 2006. The cantonal court's decision was issued in the context of opposition proceedings against the IV-Stelle Bern's decision of 24 November 2003.
Considerations
The Federal Insurance Court examined the question of whether the IV-Stelle Bern had violated the insured person's right to be heard by not granting them the right to consult the file before issuing its decision. The Federal Insurance Court considered that the right to consult the file is an essential element of the right to be heard and that parties must be informed of the addition of new essential documents to the file.
The Federal Insurance Court also considered that the IV-Stelle Bern had an obligation to communicate the essential documents in the file to the insured person before issuing its decision. However, the Federal Insurance Court estimated that the violation of the right to be heard was not serious enough to justify the annulment of the IV-Stelle Bern's decision without examining the matter on its merits.
The Federal Insurance Court therefore annulled the cantonal court's decision and referred the case…