Facts
On September 6, 1979, A. (the plaintiff) was the victim of a head-on collision of his passenger car with the vehicle of the accident perpetrator E.H., who was insured with the B. Accident Insurance Company (the defendant). By judgment of September 25, 1980, the perpetrator of the accident was convicted of negligent serious bodily harm. From 1979 to 1989, the defendant made partial payments to the plaintiff. With a claim filed on July 22, 1994, the plaintiff requested compensation for damages and satisfaction. The proceedings were stayed on January 14, 2000, as the plaintiff had suffered a heart attack. It was not until February 5, 2003 that the plaintiff reported back to request the continuation of the proceedings. The defendant raised the plea of limitation.
Considerations
The Federal Court dismissed the plaintiff's appeal. It decided that while the stay order of January 14, 2000 had interrupted the limitation period, only a new limitation period of two years under Art. 83 para. 1 sentence 1 LTRA had begun to run. The longer criminal limitation period of five years under Art. 83 para. 1 sentence 2 LTRA could no longer be triggered, as the criminal statute of limitations had already expired on March 6, 1987.
Furthermore, the Federal Court stated that…