Intended to stand on pointe in ballet, unexpectedly ended in paraplegia from the waist.
Compiled from: China Legal Education
Case review
On December 15, 2018, at a dance center in Xinghua City, Taizhou, Jiangsu, 19 children, including a 5-year-old girl named Xiao Ding, were practicing dance on yoga mats, with a professional dance teacher named Xu conducting the class.
In the second half of the class, the teacher asked the children to rise from a backbend, but some children, including Xiao Ding, were unable to get up in time. At this moment, Xiao Ji, who was standing to the right of Xiao Ding, instinctively and naturally helped and reached out to lift Xiao Ding by his arms on the ground, causing Xiao Ding to fall backward and sit on the floor with his back hitting the ground. Xiao Ding immediately showed signs of discomfort. At this time, Teacher Xu, facing away from the two children to help other children get up, did not notice the situation.
That evening, Xiao Ding felt pain in his lower limbs and was diagnosed in the hospital with thoracolumbar spinal cord injury and paraplegia. In March last year, Xiao Ding and his mother filed a lawsuit, demanding that Xiao Ji and his guardians compensate for various losses totaling 2,141,900 yuan, with the dance center bearing joint liability.
On April 3 last year, the Xinghua City People's Court entrusted the Forensic Appraisal Institute of Jiangsu University to conduct a forensic medical appraisal. The appraisal opinion was that Xiao Ding suffered paraplegia due to spinal cord injury in the thoracic and lumbar regions caused by trauma, accompanied by severe bowel and urinary dysfunction, constituting first-degree bodily injury, with complete loss of labor capacity and requiring long-term care.
It is worth noting that, according to the regulations of the dance center, parents are not allowed to enter the classroom while students are attending class, but they can watch their children practice in the classroom through public video in the waiting area.
[1] Court Opinion
The court of first instance determined that Xiao Ji and his guardians bear 10% of the responsibility and should compensate more than 210,000 yuan. The dance center bears 90% of the responsibility. The dance center was dissatisfied and filed an appeal.
The appellate court held that the dance center's regulations made it impossible for parents to actually fulfill their guardianship responsibilities during class hours; therefore, the dance center should bear full duties of supervision, management, and protection for the children during class. However, on the day of the incident, there was only one dance instructor for 19 children's dance classes. During the training of the dangerous backbend move, the instructor did not provide waist protection and also failed to promptly notice and stop Xiao Ji from pulling up Xiao Ding's arms, thus failing to fulfill the duties of education, management, and protection. Therefore, the dance center should bear compensation liability according to law.
As for whether 5-year-old Xiao Ji was at fault, the second-instance court held that when Xiao Ding had difficulty bending and getting up, Xiao Ji spontaneously went to help out of a good intention to assist a classmate. Her actions were not illegal. Being a person with no civil capacity at the age of 5, Xiao Ji had no intent to cause harm subjectively, nor did she have the cognitive ability to foresee that her actions could cause harm to a classmate objectively. Therefore, she should not bear liability for compensation.
Ultimately, the appellate court overturned the original judgment and ruled that the dance center is liable for compensating Xiao Ding's personal injury for 2,114,800 yuan, of which, after deducting the amount previously paid, the dance center still needs to pay more than 1,588,000 yuan.
[1] The author's perspective
In recent years, off-campus training institutions have grown rapidly like mushrooms after rain. However, due to reasons such as inadequate management of training institutions, irregular operations, and insufficient risk awareness, safety hazards have always existed, and if an incident occurs, the consequences are unimaginable. When children suffer personal harm while studying or living in kindergartens, schools, or other educational institutions, whether the educational institution has fulfilled its educational and management responsibilities is used as the standard for whether it bears civil liability, and fault is presumed. If the institution cannot prove that it has fulfilled its educational and management responsibilities, it is presumed to be at fault and should bear civil liability.
Children are in a stage of growth and development, and their bodies have not yet fully developed the ability to resist external threats or a mature immune system. Their judgment and self-protection abilities are also relatively weak, making them particularly vulnerable to harm. They belong to a socially disadvantaged group and need the attention and care of the whole society, as well as special protection under the law.
