Pupils insured outside school

Germany's Federal Social Court ruled on Tuesday that the state of Baden-Württemberg's statutory accident fund must compensate a former pupil shoved by a classmate in 2013 and left with head injuries while outside school filming a video as part of a project.

The state's insurance fund (Unfallkasse) had refused to pay for rehabilitation, claiming the filming was homework for which parents were ultimately responsible.

But, thefederal court in Kassel reiterated that Germany's social security statute book (SGB) covers pupils not only in the classroom but also those assigned by the school to educational projects outside the school grounds, even ones without a teacher's direct presence.

Reacting on Tuesday, Baden-Württemberg's Unfallkasse based in Stuttgart said it had contacted the "insured" former pupil's family to "initiate further rehabilitation."

Germany has an extensive statutory accident insurance set-up, known especially for its workplace coverage, requiring employers to focus on accident-prevention while providing state-funded rehabilitation for accident sufferers.

Its roots date back more than a century to the era of Otto von Bismarck.

Shoved, curbstone, coma

Jochen Knoop, 20, now lives in a wheelchair, and attends a training center for physically handicapped persons. He is dependent on his family in Steinheim, north of Stuttgart.

In 2013, a music teacher sent Knoop, then 15, and three other high school pupils outside to complete a group video project they had not finished during class.

Their outing, in which they also acted film roles, ended in an argument. Another pupil shoved Knoop on his way home. He fell and hit his head on a curb, suffering head injuries that resulted in a coma and surgical operations.

Responsibility of schools

The Kassel-based court said established social welfare jurisprudence in Germany placed such accidents in the "organizational responsibility of the school."

It was not a case of study done at home under parental supervision, it added.

"During school-initiated group work that takes place outside the school grounds after class, pupils of general and vocational schools are also accident-insured under the terms of the law," the top court said. 

"Hence, school attendance continues within the group, in which — alongside practical learning — social and emotional competencies are developed and practiced," it concluded.

"This is all the more the case when the injury event was triggered by a typical youth-age group process," it said. "The subsequent way home was also insured."

In further reaction Tuesday, the Unfallkasse said that it intended to brief Baden-Württemberg's schools on the "new legal ruling and the extended insurance cover for pupils.

Commuters covered — to and from work

So-called Wegeunfall – accidents while commuting to and from the workplace or school – are part of Germany's statutory accident insurance.

The exact demarcation between the moment when employer liability ends and private responsibility starts quite often ends up before courts. 

For accidents while commuting, Germany's health system has separate administrative procedures, for example in clinics — that also require employers to immediately notify such accidents.