Facts
In this case, it was about a ruling of the Compensation Fund of the Canton of Zurich dated July 16, 1979, which rejected the insured person Quintino Riso's request for coverage of the costs of medical and vocational integration measures and dismissed his application for a disability pension as settled by waiver. The insured person's lawyer filed an appeal against this ruling on September 14, 1979. However, the AHV Appeals Commission of the Canton of Zurich, by presidential ruling of September 26, 1979, did not enter into the appeal due to tardiness.
Quintino Riso then filed an administrative court appeal with the request to set aside the presidential ruling of September 26, 1979 and to oblige the AHV Appeals Commission of the Canton of Zurich to enter into the appeal of September 14, 1979.
Considerations
The Federal Court dismissed the administrative court appeal. It stated that according to the applicable provisions of the Federal Act on Disability Insurance (IVG) and the Federal Act on Old-Age and Survivors' Insurance (AHVG), appeals against rulings of the Compensation Funds can be filed within 30 days of notification. This deadline cannot be extended by the judge.
The Federal Court confirmed its previous case law, according to which a person who is absent from their known address for an extended period of time during a pending procedure, without arranging for the forwarding of correspondence and without informing the authority of where they can be reached, must accept a service attempt at the previous address as successful, provided that there was a certain probability that an official document would arrive during the absence.
In the present case, the fund's ruling had been served…