Facts
The case concerns a dispute between the accident insurers Swica and Zurich regarding the obligation to provide benefits for the treatment costs of an insured person who had suffered multiple shoulder injuries. Swica had provided benefits to the insured person and now demanded reimbursement of the costs from Zurich, as the shoulder had already been pre-damaged before the event insured with Swica. The Federal Social Insurance Office (BSV) did not enter into Swica's request, as it saw a negative conflict of competence between the two insurers.
Swica then filed an administrative court appeal against the decision of the Federal Department of the Interior (EDI), which had also not entered into the appeal and had transferred the files to the Insurance Court of the Canton of Valais.
Considerations
The Federal Insurance Court states that according to the case law, an accident insurer does not have the power to issue instructions to another accident insurer and therefore cannot decide the issue of jurisdiction in an official capacity. According to Article 78a of the Federal Law on Accident Insurance (UVG), the BSV is responsible for deciding the dispute by order in such cases.
The BSV should therefore have entered into Swica's request of August 25,…