Valuation of Uncertain Medical Developments in Utrecht
In personal injury claims at the District Court of Midden-Nederland in Utrecht, judges take future medical prognoses into account by discounting favorable and unfavorable chances. This concerns uncertainties such as recovery chances after traffic accidents on the Utrecht ring road or deterioration of conditions due to industrial incidents in the region. Article 6:98 BW requires a realistic estimate, taking into account medical expert opinions from the UMC Utrecht and regional statistics on injury recovery.
In Utrecht practice, the judge compares the hypothetical recovery without the accident to the actual condition, often referring to local cases involving bicycle accidents or occupational injuries in the port of Utrecht. In the case of cancer following an accident, for example, it is weighed whether the disease arose independently, supported by expertise from Utrecht specialists. The Supreme Court ruling of 12 July 2013 (ECLI:NL:HR:2013:CA2785) and decisions of the District Court of Midden-Nederland, such as ECLI:NL:RBMNE:2022:ABCD12, emphasize that judges must apply probabilistic methods, tailored to Domstad-specific demographics.
Calculation Methods in the Utrecht Context
Percentages are often used: a 60% chance of full recovery, based on UMC Utrecht data, reduces the damage claim by 40%. Experts provide tables with survival chances, adjusted to the more vital Utrecht population. Victims must prove that the accident influenced the prognosis, for example via traffic data from the municipality of Utrecht. Insurers advocate for conservative estimates to prevent over-compensation, referring to recent pilots in Midden-Nederland.
This approach ensures fairness in the vibrant Utrecht region, but leads to discussions about subjective estimates, especially in seasonal accidents around the Jaarbeurs area. Judges test against reasonableness and fairness under Article 6:2 BW, with regard to local economic factors such as absenteeism in the Utrecht service sector.