Facts
On 8 April 1991, an insured person suffered a severe fall on their back during their service. The first judges found that the military insurance no longer bore any responsibility for the physical disorders (dorsalgias and lumbagos) suffered by the insured person, but that the responsibility of the insurance for the psychological disorders suffered by the insured person was disputed. The experts attributed to the event in question an influence of 30 percent on these disorders, taking into account the pre-existing state of illness.
The parties involved are the Federal Office of Military Insurance and M., with the intervention of the Administrative Court of the Canton of Geneva. The decision of the military insurance was made on 12 August 1994, after the entry into force of the law on military insurance of 19 June 1992.
Considerations
The Federal Insurance Court applied the principles developed by the case law in the field of accident insurance to decide whether there is an adequate causal link between the accident and the psychological disorders. The natural causality between the accident and the aggravation of the psychological disorders was admitted, but it was necessary to ask whether the causal link could be qualified as adequate.
The definition of adequate causality is the same in all areas of law, namely whether the fact considered was likely to cause an effect of the kind that occurred. However, to decide whether the causality is adequate, the judge will take into account the objectives of the legal policy pursued by the applicable standard in the specific case.
In the field of accident insurance, the Federal Insurance Court has established rules that aim to allow an objective assessment of the adequate causality between an insured accident and psychological disorders that cause an inability to work or earn a living. These rules are based on a classification of accidents into three categories (minor accidents, medium-severity accidents, severe accidents).
In this case, the incriminated accident -…