The Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Cataluña dismissed the INSS’s appeal because the agency failed to pay the worker’s pension during the appeal process, as the law requires. He is now owed more than 90,000 euros in overdue benefits.
The case involves a 49-year-old supervisor at a vehicle manufacturing plant in Barcelona. He has sought recognition of permanent absolute disability since 2023. His medical history includes Crohn’s disease, severe psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, chronic migraines, tenosynovitis in both hands and moderate depression. Despite ongoing treatment, his symptoms made regular work impossible. Court documents describe daily life with frequent urgent bowel movements, constant joint pain and persistent inflammation.
The Catalan court identified the case as STSJ CAT 5465/2026, a reference now used in legal databases to track similar rulings.
After the Catalan medical board issued its opinion in September 2023, the INSS rejected his claim the following month and dismissed his administrative appeal. The worker then took the case to the Social Court in Barcelona, which ruled in his favor in December 2025. The judgment recognized a 100 percent disability pension based on a regulatory base of 3,389.10 euros per month, with payments retroactive to September 2023. Yet the INSS did not begin paying the pension during its appeal, as the law requires. Instead, it submitted a certificate stating that payment began in December 2025. A second certificate, issued by the INSS in March 2026, confirmed that no payment had actually been made.
Spanish law requires the managing entity to pay the pension provisionally during the appeal process. If it fails to do so, the appeal can be dismissed without reviewing the medical evidence. That happened here: finding no proof of payment, the court rejected the INSS’s appeal and upheld the lower court’s decision, leaving the agency with no further arguments on the medical facts.
Tribunal Médico, the legal office representing the worker, calculated the back pay at 90,675.80 euros, based on the months the pension went unpaid. The amount may be adjusted for annual revaluations, legal caps or incompatible earnings. The INSS’s failure to follow procedure led directly to a impressive financial cost.
Recent legal analyses say that in 2026, the Catalan court has repeatedly dismissed INSS appeals in social security cases for procedural violations rather than medical disagreements. They describe a broader trend in Catalonia, where courts insist on strict adherence to procedure in disability and benefit disputes.
Spain’s maximum public pension for 2026 is set at 3,359.60 euros per month, so the worker’s recognized base does not guarantee he will receive the full 3,389.10 euros monthly. The final amount will depend on statutory limits and any other income. Each disability case is judged individually, and this ruling does not automatically set a precedent for others with similar illnesses.
The court’s June 2026 resolution is not yet final: a further cassation appeal to the Supreme Court is possible within ten days. Still, the INSS’s legal options are now limited, and the worker’s right to payment appears secure, information from Tribunal Médico’s August update. For others navigating Spain’s disability system, the case shows the importance of following procedure, an issue also seen in recent rulings from other regions.
