Facts
The appellant (born in 1957) was employed by the construction company Y. AG in 2005/2006 and was insured for daily sickness allowance through his employer with the X. Insurance Company (the respondent). He was 100% incapacitated for work from February 3, 2006 and had to undergo disc herniation surgery at the Cantonal Hospital Aarau on February 17 and 28, 2006. The respondent provided daily allowance benefits after the contractual waiting period of 30 days from March 5, 2006, but discontinued these at the end of July 2006 due to a breach of the duty to cooperate.
The appellant filed a claim with the Insurance Court of the Canton of Aargau on February 10, 2009, requesting the respondent to pay him CHF 83,946 plus interest. The respondent raised the defense of limitation, and the Insurance Court dismissed the claim as time-barred.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court upheld the decision of the lower court. It stated that according to Art. 46 para. 1 of the Insurance Contract Act (VVG), claims arising from the insurance contract become time-barred after two years from the occurrence of the fact that gives rise to the obligation to provide benefits. In the present case, this was the date of the medically certified incapacity for work due to illness and the expiration of the agreed 30-day waiting period, i.e. March 5, 2006. Thus, the limitation period expired on March 5, 2008, while the debt collection proceedings were only initiated on July 29, 2008.
The Federal Supreme Court also denied an interruption of the limitation period by acknowledgment of the claim by the respondent. The payment of daily allowances without reservation could generally be understood as an acknowledgment of the obligation to pay, but in…