Switzerland told to compensate surviving dependants of asbestos victim
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has once again condemned Switzerland in an asbestos case for violating the right to a fair trial
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The European Court of Human Rights has once again condemned Switzerland in an asbestos case for violating the right to a fair trial. Surviving relatives of a patient suffering from pleural cancer were unable to enforce their claims due to the statute of limitations.
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Suíça é obrigada a indenizar dependentes de vítimas de amianto
As in other cases, the disease only broke out after the previously applicable absolute limitation period of ten years had expired. The patient asserted his claims himself but died in 2006 during the proceedings.
His wife and son continued the case. The Federal Court dismissed their claim for compensation in November 2019, citing the statute of limitations.
The Lausanne judges had waited for the revision of the statute of limitations law. The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, has therefore also condemned Switzerland for the length of the proceedings.
During his childhood, the deceased lived from 1961 to 1972 in the immediate vicinity of the Eternit factory site in Niederurnen, canton Glarus, in a house that belonged to Eternit AG.
Translated from German by DeepL/ts
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