Facts

The complainant, [W.] , had filed a claim for benefits from the disability insurance, which was denied by the IV office of the canton of Zurich with a decision of October 30, 2007. The complainant appealed against this decision, which was partially upheld by the Social Insurance Court of the canton of Zurich and the matter was referred back to the administration to supplement the facts regarding the pension claim. However, for the period from 2005 onwards, the Social Insurance Court decided conclusively that, due to the restored full working capacity as of January 14, 2005, only a temporary disability pension was considered and therefore no pension claim existed for the subsequent period.

The complainant appealed to the Federal Court and requested that the contested decision be annulled and that she be granted a full disability pension from June 2004. She also requested a comprehensive medical examination and the suspension of the current proceedings.

Considerations

The Federal Court had to decide whether the decision of the Social Insurance Court, which had conclusively decided for the period from 2005 onwards that no pension claim existed, was independently appealable. The court found that a partial decision exists when a decision deals with a claim that can be judged independently of others.

The court discussed that in the context of ongoing legal relationships, such as pension relationships, it is generally possible to make legal claims that concern specific parts of the entire duration the subject of independent proceedings. However, the distinction between partial and intermediate decisions must be made at the level of the subject of the dispute.

The court decided that a decision by which a lower court of the Federal Court conclusively judges a certain preceding partial period of the pension claim and refers the matter back to the administration for re-evaluation for a subsequent partial period is a partial decision that is independently appealable with regard to the conclusively judged phase. On the other hand, a decision by which a lower court of the Federal Court…