Communicated on 8 October 2015

SECOND SECTION

Application no. 56898/13
Ivančica ZOVKO
against Croatia
lodged on 27 August 2013

STATEMENT OF FACTS

The applicant, Ms Ivančica Zovko, is a Croatian national who was born in 1968 and lives in Samobor. She is represented before the Court by Mr T. Valičević, a lawyer practising in Zagreb.

The circumstances of the case

The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows.

In February 2010 the applicant was granted payment of a disability benefit with regard to an injury which she had sustained in a road accident while commuting to work.

In November 2010 a medical specialist on work-related injuries, as a result of further diagnoses concerning her medical condition, requested that the applicant’s entitlement to disability benefit be increased.

On the basis of that request, the Zagreb Office of the Croatian Health Insurance Fund (Hrvatski zavod za zdravstveno osiguranje, Područni ured u Zagrebu; hereinafter the “Zagreb Office”) commissioned a report on the applicant’s condition from one of its in-house experts.

On 30 March 2011 the expert produced his report, finding that there was no causal link between the injuries sustained in the road accident and the applicant’s further diagnoses.

On the same day, relying on the expert report, the Zagreb Office dismissed the request to increase the applicant’s entitlement to disability benefit.

The applicant challenged these findings before the Central Office of the Croatian Health Insurance Fund (Hrvatski zavod za zdravstveno osiguranje, Direkcija; hereinafter the “Central Office”) arguing, inter alia, that she ha