News - damage lawyers

On 9.9.2025, the Federal Court will deliberate and decide at 10:00 a.m. on a fundamental question in liability law. In a case led by attorney Stephan Kinzl, the exciting question is whether the relatives of a deceased person are allowed to access the patient records to clarify whether the death is related to a breach of duty of care by the medical personnel. The canton of Thurgau and the administrative court have denied this question.

No longer interested in a corporate law firm or a large corporation? With us, you represent the little woman/the little man after an accident or illness against the large insurance companies or liable parties – very much in the spirit of David against Goliath. Although we are with around 20 lawyers the largest law firm in the field of liability and insurance law in Switzerland, we have remained straightforward and family-like in our dealings.

We are a medium-sized, specialized law firm with around 20 lawyers who advocate for the liability and insurance law concerns of our clients. We exclusively represent injured and insured persons against insurance companies.

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In the current issue of NZZ am Sonntag, our medical liability specialist RA Fabian Meyer states that cases are increasing in which concerns and worries of relatives of doctors and hospital staff are not taken seriously – often with serious consequences.

In England and Australia, the so-called Martha’s Rule counters these risks. Relatives and patients, but also nursing staff and doctors, have the right to a second opinion by another team in such constellations.

Does the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ClimateSeniors ruling of 9 April 2024 open the door to collective claims for damages in Switzerland?

Under Swiss law, there are currently only very limited options for collective legal protection. The only real form is the collective action under Art. 89 of the Swiss Code of Civil Procedure (ZPO), which, however, is only aimed at injunctive relief, removal or a declaratory judgement, but not at damages or satisfaction. The Parliament has been discussing an expansion of collective legal protection for over a decade.

Does the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ClimateSeniors ruling of 9 April 2024 open the door to collective claims for damages in Switzerland?

Under Swiss law, there are currently only very limited options for collective legal protection. The only real form is the collective action under Art. 89 of the Swiss Code of Civil Procedure (ZPO), which, however, is only aimed at injunctive relief, removal or a declaratory judgement, but not at damages or satisfaction. The Parliament has been discussing an expansion of collective legal protection for over a decade.

Damage lawyers repeatedly receive inquiries from people who have reduced their workload or even taken a professional break for health reasons and later (nevertheless) became unable to work. The reduction or break was often well-intentioned, for example because one did not want to claim insurance and hoped to recover on one’s own with some relief. But what if no one knows about the health complaints and the recovery unfortunately does not occur? Then such measures can have fatal consequences, especially with regard to daily sickness benefits insurance and pension funds.

The Federal Court reprimanded the Social Insurance Court and the SVA Zurich because they deviated from a medical expert opinion and instead conducted an indicator review, which led to the rejection of our client’s pension claim.

Receiving a dismissal is a traumatic experience for employees, which in some cases also results in illness and incapacity to work. This usually leads to an obligation of the daily sickness benefits insurance to pay benefits. As the following article shows, the insurance is practically without exception entitled to reduce its benefits after the termination of the employment relationship in this constellation.

As a law firm dealing daily with medical and hospital liability cases, we have recently been confronted particularly frequently with the following two constellations: insufficient internal hospital communication and insufficient consideration or examination of justified indications from the relatives of patients (or the patients themselves).