Verdict accident insurance only replaces the glasses on the nose

Social Court Munich: No refund for reading glasses in a purse
If glasses are broken in the event of an accident on the way to work, they will be replaced by the statutory accident insurance if they were worn on the nose in accordance with their purpose. On the other hand, if reading glasses were carried in the handbag, the accident insurance does not have to pay for the costs, the Munich Social Court ruled in a ruling published on Thursday, 18 May 2017 (Ref .: S 23 U 667/15).

This failed a woman in court, who wanted to replace the cost of a damaged reading glasses from the statutory accident insurance. The woman fell on her way to work on August 3, 2015, injuring her shoulder and left knee. In the fall she fell on her carried handbag. The reading glasses and spectacle case were destroyed.

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Since it concerns an auxiliary, the legal accident insurance must pay for the costs of a new reading glasses. Specifically, it was about 500 euros.

But the accident insurance refused. A prerequisite for a restoration or renewal of a damaged device is that it was used "properly" during the accident on the body. A mere carrying in the purse is not enough.

The Social Court dismissed the woman's complaint in his January 11, 2017 ruling. If an aid is not worn properly on the body, but rather carried by accident, it is not indicated by the purpose of law to include it in the scope of the statutory accident insurance, the Munich judge. In the case of spectacles, it is therefore necessary "to be worn properly on the body at the time of the accident". The glasses must be required for the specific insured activity.

These conditions are not fulfilled here. The glasses were neither required to travel the work path, nor was it worn directly on the body, but carried in the purse. "She was not destroyed as a result of an insured activity," the Social Court ruled. fle / mwo