Facts
In this case, the issue was the reimbursement of unrightfully claimed civil protection service days by the civil protection commander [S.] through the Social Insurance Institution of the Canton of Aargau. The Municipal Association for Civil Protection and Civil Defense [X.] and [S.] jointly appealed against the decision of the Insurance Court of the Canton of Aargau, which dismissed the appeal against the objection decision of the Compensation Fund.
The Federal Court concluded that the Compensation Fund's claim for reimbursement had lapsed. For the 25 civil protection service days wrongly claimed through the Compensation for Loss of Earnings Scheme (EO) in 2003, the one-year forfeiture period under Art. 25 para. 2 ATSG had begun to run at the latest on February 2, 2007, as the unlawfulness of the service provision was directly evident from the files. For the 93 civil protection service days wrongly claimed in 2004 and 2005, the forfeiture period would also have begun to run at the latest on February 2, 2007, as the Compensation Fund should have recognized that these deployments were not entitled to compensation if it had exercised the required due diligence.
Considerations
The Federal Court stated that according to Art. 25 para. 2 ATSG, the claim for reimbursement lapses after the expiration of one year from the time the insurance institution became aware of it, but at the latest after the expiration of five years from the payment of the individual benefit. The forfeiture period begins as soon as the insurance institution should have recognized, with the exercise of the due diligence expected of it, that the…