Offsetting of claims by the accident insurance against benefits paid to the insured

Facts

M., born in 1951, operated a sole proprietorship that went bankrupt on November 5, 1996. The Swiss National Accident Insurance Fund (SUVA), as the employer's insurance, had premium claims against M. for the years 1995 and 1996. After accidents that M. suffered on December 16, 1997 and March 17, 1998 while working as a foreman for his son's construction company, SUVA provided benefits such as pension and daily allowance payments. However, SUVA offset CHF 500 per month from the daily allowances against the outstanding premium claim.

Considerations

The Federal Supreme Court decided that the offsetting of the daily allowance payments against the premium claim would generally be permissible, as the requirements of mutuality are met. However, in the field of accident insurance law, according to Art. 50 para. 3 of the Accident Insurance Act (UVG), the prohibition of offsetting stipulated in Art. 213 para. 2 no. 2 of the Debt…