Facts
The case concerns a dispute between Balmer and the St. Moritz Health Insurance Association. By order dated July 18, 1972, the St. Moritz Health Insurance Association terminated Balmer's membership due to a violation of the notification deadlines. Balmer had E.B., Secretary of the Swiss Construction and Wood Workers' Union, file a complaint with the request to revoke the exclusion order.
The Insurance Court of Graubünden, by decision dated October 9, 1972, did not enter into the "claim", as according to Art. 14 of the Ordinance on the Organization and Procedure of the Cantonal Insurance Court, the Civil Procedure Code (CPC) applies subsidiarily for the proceedings before this court. Due to the lack of a provision on party representation in the Ordinance, Art. 39 CPC applies, according to which only a person in possession of a Graubünden certificate of competence for lawyers may act as a party representative before a collegiate court. Since E.B. is not a licensed lawyer, he cannot act as a party representative before the Insurance Court.
Considerations
The Federal Insurance Court states that the cantonal legal restriction of the right to represent parties to lawyers in health insurance proceedings is not contrary to federal law. However, it would be excessively formalistic to dismiss the legal remedy filed by a non-lawyer without any possibility of improvement, as this would violate Art. 4 of the Federal Constitution.
The interest of the appellant, despite the formal defect, not to be excluded from the appeal process, is disproportionately more significant and worthy of protection than the interest in avoiding a minor delay in the proceedings by granting a grace…