Facts
The plaintiff, [A.] , was involved in a rear-end collision in Zurich on November 19, 2002, in which her vehicle, a Chrysler Grand Voyager, was hit from behind on the right side. The plaintiff drove home after the accident and visited the Männedorf district hospital on the same day, where a whiplash injury was diagnosed. The plaintiff sued the insurance company, [X.] -Gesellschaft, for payment of compensation for loss of earnings and household damage.
The Commercial Court of the Canton of Zurich dismissed the complaint, as it considered that the plaintiff had not provided evidence of a natural causal link between the accident and the alleged complaints. The plaintiff appealed against this judgment and claimed that the Commercial Court had acted arbitrarily in denying the causal link.
Considerations
The Federal Court examined whether the Commercial Court had acted arbitrarily in denying the causal link between the accident and the alleged complaints. The court found that the plaintiff had not provided evidence of a natural causal link, as the medical reports and expert opinions were not clear and the plaintiff herself had made contradictory statements.
The court stated that the Commercial Court's assessment of the evidence was not arbitrary, as it had critically evaluated the medical reports and expert opinions and taken into account the contradictions in the plaintiff's statements. The court also found that the plaintiff had not accurately described the…