Hike with cousins in Glarus ends up in the Federal Supreme Court
Keystone-SDA
The Swiss Federal Court has dismissed a claim in an unusual family dispute. Going for a walk in eastern Switzerland, a woman was hit by a branch that her cousin had been trying to move out of the way. She said she suffered serious head injuries and sued her cousin for damages.
According to a recently published Federal Court judgement, the group of cousins was out walking in the Glarus mountains. One of the cousins cleared a path by bending a branch out of the way. This branch then struck the cousin walking behind him on the head.
She suffered serious head injuries and subsequently took legal action against her cousin in the Glarus courts and then before the Federal Court, claiming more than CHF370,000 ($444,000) in damages and CHF20,000 in legal costs.
To no avail: the judges in Lausanne upheld the ruling of the High Court of canton Glarus, which had decided that the branch-holding cousin was not at fault and was therefore not liable for the damage. The judges noted that he could not have foreseen that the branch, as it bent away, would strike his cousin, who was several metres behind him.
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Translated from German, reviewed by an English Department journalist.
