Facts
P., born on November 18, 1941, suffered a whiplash injury to the cervical spine in a rear-end collision on July 18, 2003. After she did not resume her employment, the employment relationship was terminated at the end of December 2003. Winterthur Swiss Insurance Company (the appellant) provided daily allowance benefits and covered the medical treatment. In November 2004, the insured person reached the regular AHV retirement age, whereupon the accident insurer denied her claim for daily allowances or pension benefits, arguing that due to the regular retirement, there was no loss of earnings from December 1, 2004 onwards.
The Social Insurance Court of the Canton of Zurich overturned the contested objection decision and remanded the case to Winterthur, instructing it to proceed in accordance with the considerations and then issue a new decision on the insured person's entitlement to benefits from December 1, 2004.
Winterthur is filing a public law appeal and requesting the overturning of the lower court's decision.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court dismisses the appeal. It holds that the entitlement to daily allowances is linked to the incapacity to work and not to a specific loss of earnings. Therefore, the entitlement to daily allowance benefits does not end with the attainment of the AHV retirement age, as long as the medical treatment has not yet been completed.
Furthermore, the insured person may also be entitled to an invalidity pension from the accident insurance after reaching the AHV retirement age. This pension is no longer primarily intended to compensate for a loss of…