Facts
The appellant, D., received a decision from the Federal Office for Military Insurance (OFAM) on 9 July 1997, rejecting his opposition to a previous decision. The appellant filed an appeal against this decision with the Administrative Court of the Canton of Geneva on 10 October 1997. The Administrative Court declared the appeal inadmissible due to tardiness. The appellant lodged an administrative appeal against this decision, requesting the annulment of the contested judgment and the referral of the case to the cantonal authority to rule on the merits.
The parties involved are: D., the appellant, and the Federal Office for Military Insurance (OFAM). The decisions at issue are: the OFAM decision of 8 July 1997 and the judgment of the Administrative Court of the Canton of Geneva of 9 December 1997.
Considerations
The Federal Insurance Court examined the conditions for ordering a second exchange of briefs and decided that they were not met, as the OFAM had not invoked any new essential elements for the solution of the dispute. The Federal Court also examined the appellant's request to hold hearings before the Federal Insurance Court and decided that there was no need to order them, as the appellant had not formulated a clear and undisputed request to hold public hearings and the dispute concerned a purely technical issue.
The Federal Court then examined the computation of the three-month time limit for appealing against the decision on opposition to military insurance. It decided that the time limit had started to run the day after notification of the decision, i.e. 10 July 1997, and had expired on 9 October 1997. The appellant's appeal, filed on 10 October 1997, was therefore…