Facts
On 31 October 1995, [A.] , born on 9 October 1950 and residing in Lucerne, was involved in a rear-end collision and suffered a whiplash injury. The accident was caused by [B.] , who was insured for liability with the [X.] Insurance Company. [A.] subsequently filed a lawsuit against the [X.] Insurance Company and [B.] for compensation for loss of earnings and household damage.
The District Court of Lucerne-Land ordered the defendants to pay [A.] CHF 723,898.25 in joint and several liability. Both [A.] and the defendants appealed against this judgment. The High Court of the Canton of Lucerne dismissed the appeals.
Considerations
The Federal Court held that the High Court, in calculating the plaintiff's potential future disability income, had not disregarded the economic circumstances and had not violated the principle of specific damage determination. It assumed that the plaintiff, as a language teacher, would still be 50% employable, which appeared to be economically feasible. Therefore, it considered the potential disability income of CHF 36,000 gross per year assumed by the High Court to be in accordance with federal law.
Furthermore, the Federal Court confirmed the long-standing practice of the Federal Court, according to which the capitalization interest rate is 3.5%. It rejected an adjustment to the variable OPA minimum interest rate of 2.5%.
With regard to the duration of the plaintiff's employment until retirement, the Federal…