Facts
B. worked as a nursing assistant at X. and was affiliated with the Elvia Life Collective Pension Foundation (Fondation collective LPP de l'Elvia Vie). The Disability Insurance Office (Office de l'assurance-invalidité) determined that B. had a 100% disability as of January 19, 1996. On this basis, the pension foundation granted her a disability pension and a disabled child's pension.
Citing an error, the pension foundation demanded that B. reimburse 39,957.20 CHF, the amount paid until June 30, 1999, due to overcompensation. It temporarily suspended the payment of the pensions.
B. brought the case before the Insurance Court of the Canton of Vaud (Tribunal des assurances du canton de Vaud) to have it established that she did not have to reimburse the claimed amount. The pension foundation concluded that the claim was inadmissible, subsidiarily that it should be rejected, and, by way of a counterclaim, that 18,368 CHF with interest should be paid.
The cantonal court held that B. was not obliged to reimburse the claimed amount and ordered the pension foundation to resume the payment of the pensions.
The pension foundation appealed the judgment by way of an administrative law appeal.
Considerations
The Federal Tribunal (Tribunal fédéral) considered that in the field of occupational pension benefits that exceed the mandatory requirements, the rights and obligations of the insured persons mainly derive from the pension regulations. In the absence of a statutory or regulatory norm, the general provisions of the Swiss Code of Obligations (CO) on unjust enrichment apply.
In the present case, the pension…