Pupils who have an accident after school on the way to a sports boarding school are insured against accidents. According to the social court in Hanover, the prerequisite is that they have lunch there and do their homework. Since the way to the boarding school is ultimately comparable to the way home, the protection of the accident insurance remains.
Accident insurance only considers boarding school to be an “intermediate goal”
The then 11-year-old student had to go to a sports boarding school about 700 meters away every day after school. There he got his lunch and did his homework. Then he had to go to the sports center, also about 700 meters away, to take part in the swimming squad training there. On the way from school to boarding school he had an accident. The accident insurance refused to recognize this as an insured commuting accident. She justified this by saying that the sports boarding school was only an interim goal, the ultimate goal of the student was participation in the management training in the performance center. Therefore, the way from the general school to the sports boarding school is not an insured way to school.
SG: A stay at a sports boarding school replaces a stay at the parental home
The court saw things differently and ordered the accident insurance to recognize the accident as a commuting accident. The way to the sports boarding school is also part of the insured route, similar to the way home to the parental home. Recognizing the way to the sports boarding school as an insured way to school is objectively justified and appropriate. The student would not do anything there other than at home. After all, his parents also instructed the child to eat and do their homework at the sports boarding school as part of their custody. The stay in the sports boarding school only replaced the stay in the parental home. The Social Law Working Group of the German Lawyers’ Association (DAV) informed about the decision.
on SG Hannover, judgment of 03/14/2023 – S 22 U 214/20
Editorial office beck-aktuell, April 21, 2023.
Related Links
From the beck-online database
Barkow v. Creytz, student accident insurance during off-campus break, NZS 2021, 273
Burmann/Jahnke, Young People – Statutory Accident Insurance Protection and Privileged Liability, NZV 2017, 63
From the news archive
Pupils are insured against accidents when “surfing the train”, report by the beck-aktuell editorial team from March 30th, 2023, becklink 2026653