Case T-409/04: Action brought on 4 October 2004 by Benito Latino against the Commission of the European Communities
Date: 2004-12-04
Institutions: Court of First Instance
Subjects: European Commission, European official, action for annulment (EU), asbestos, disability insurance, health expenditure, medical report, occupational disease, report

4.12.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 300/51

The applicant claims that the Court should:

Pleas in law and main arguments

— annul the decision of the Council refusing the applicant
to the expatriation allowance and resulting

entitlement
rights, from her entry into service on 1 November 2003;

— order the Council to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

Before entering into the Council's service, the applicant worked
in the chancellery of the Land Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
in Brussels. In the present action she challenges the decision
refusing to grant her the expatriation allowance.

In support of her action, the applicant pleads breach of Article
4(1)(a) of Annex VII to the Staff Regulations in that the Council
did not consider that she was in circumstances arising from
work done for another State. The applicant also pleads breach
of the principle of equal treatment and of non-discrimination.

Action brought on 4 October 2004 by Benito Latino
against the Commission of the European Communities

(Case T-409/04)

(2004/C 300/99)

(Language of the case: French)

An action against the Commission of the European Commu-
nities was brought before the Court of Justice of the European
Communities on 4 October 2004 by Benito Latino, residing in
Lauzun (France), represented by Juan Ramón Iturriagagoitia,
lawyer.

The applicant, a former Commission official who worked in
the Berlaymont Building in Brussels from 1969 to 1991 sought
in 1994 recognition of the occupational origin of his respira-
tory illness as a result of the exposure to asbestos which he
claimed to have suffered. An initial Commission Decision in
response to that request, which acknowledged the occupational
origin of his illness and determined the rate of invalidity at 5 %,
was annulled by the Court of First Instance in Case T-300/
97 (1) brought by the applicant.

Following the abovementioned judgment,
the Commission
once again brought the matter before the medical committee
and after that committee had issued a fresh medical report
dated 6 May 2002, the Commission adopted the contested
decision.

In support of its action, the applicant first claims that the
the medical committee is in breach of
majority report of
Article 73 of the Staff Regulations inasmuch as it took no
account of the dissenting report. Furthermore, the report did
not satisfy the conditions laid down by the case-law of the
Court of First Instance and contained contradictory and unintel-
ligible assessments.

The applicant also pleads the infringement of Articles 3, 17
and 20 of the rules concerning coverage of the risks of acci-
dents or sickness in the case of officials, the third paragraph of
the annex thereto and of Articles 381 to 383 and 387 et seq.
of the Belgian invalidity tables. He further pleads a lack of
objectivity on the part of the medical committee, as well as
alleged hostility to him by two of its members. In the appli-
cant's view, a new medical committee ought to be established
in order to ensure observance of his rights of defence.

(1) OJ 1998, C 41, p. 23.

The applicant claims that the Court should:

Action brought on 6 October 2004 by Jean-Paul Keppenne
against the Commission of the European Communities

— annul the medical report of 6 May 2002 notified on 11
November 2003 and received by the applicant on 15
November 2003;

— annul the Commission Decision of 11 November 2003
received on 15 November 2003,
in regard to the 5 %
partial permanent invalidity agreed in the applicant's case
and in regard to the imposition on the applicant of certain
the medical
expenses
committee;

the members of

and fees of

(Case T-411/04)

(2004/C 300/100)

(Language of the case: French)

— order the Commission to pay the totality of the expenses

and fees of the medical committee;

— order the Commission to pay the fees and costs of these

proceedings.

An action against the Commission of the European Commu-
nities was brought before the Court of Justice of the European
Communities on 6 October 2004 by Jean-Paul Keppenne,
residing in Etterbeek (Belgium), represented by Paul-Emmanuel
Ghislain, lawyer.