How is tort liability determined when a customer is injured by hotel facilities?
[2] Compiled from: Zhoucun District People's Court, Zibo City
Case review
On April 17, 2021, while dining under a retractable tent set up by a farmhouse restaurant, Sun was injured when the tent suddenly collapsed. Sun was subsequently taken to the hospital for treatment, hospitalized for 12 days, and diagnosed with thoracic vertebral fracture, lumbar vertebral fracture, lumbar soft tissue contusion, traumatic wet lung, pleural effusion, and scalp contusion, incurring medical expenses of 33,739.98 yuan. Additionally, from April 17, 2021, to July 16, 2021, Sun hired a caregiver, Ma, for nursing care, personally paying 21,060 yuan in nursing fees. After multiple unsuccessful negotiations with the farmhouse restaurant regarding compensation, the restaurant argued that Sun's account of the dining and injury was true and agreed to compensate, but claimed the requested amount was excessive and requested a court judgment. During the litigation, upon the court's entrustment, a judicial appraisal institute in Zibo assessed Sun's disability level, work loss period, and nursing period, issuing a judicial appraisal opinion on February 28, 2022, concluding that Sun's thoracic vertebral fracture constituted a disability level of nine; recommending a work loss period of 180 days and a nursing period of 90 days.
[1] Image source from the internet; if infringement occurs, please delete!
[1] Court Opinion
The court held that if a building, structure, or other facility collapses or subsides due to the fault of the owner, manager, user, or a third party, causing harm to others, the owner, manager, user, or third party shall bear tort liability. In this case, because the defendant farmhouse restaurant's outdoor retractable tent lacked reinforcement measures, causing the tent to collapse and injure the plaintiff Sun while dining, the defendant, as the manager of a public venue, should have eliminated unsafe factors and dangers, provided a safe dining environment, and ensured the personal safety of customers during dining; otherwise, it should bear tort liability. Since the defendant failed to fulfill its safety guarantee obligation, resulting in personal injury to the plaintiff, and did not provide evidence that the accident was caused by the plaintiff, it must bear full compensation liability for the plaintiff's losses. If the defendant believes the accident was caused by a third party, it may seek recourse from that third party after compensating the plaintiff.
After verifying the plaintiff's medical expenses, hospitalization meal subsidies, nursing fees, work loss compensation, and other losses, the court ruled as follows: 1. The defendant farmhouse restaurant shall, within ten days of this judgment taking effect, compensate the plaintiff Sun for medical expenses, copying fees, hospitalization meal subsidies, work loss compensation, nursing fees, disability compensation, mental distress damages, transportation fees, and appraisal fees totaling 329,543.50 yuan; 2. The plaintiff Sun's other claims are dismissed.
Civil Code of the People's Republic of China
Article 1198, Paragraph 1
Operators, managers, or organizers of business premises, public places such as hotels, shopping malls, banks, stations, airports, sports venues, and entertainment venues, or mass activities, who fail to fulfill their safety guarantee obligations and cause harm to others, shall bear tort liability. If harm is caused to others by the actions of a third party, the third party shall bear tort liability; if the operator, manager, or organizer fails to fulfill their safety guarantee obligations, they shall bear corresponding supplementary liability. After bearing supplementary liability, the operator, manager, or organizer may seek recourse from the third party.
[1] The author's perspective
The duty of security protection mainly refers to the obligation of operators, managers of business premises and public places such as hotels, shopping malls, banks, stations, airports, sports venues, and entertainment venues, or organizers of mass activities, to protect the public from personal and property damage within a reasonable limit. According to the relevant provisions of China's Civil Code, it is the unshirkable responsibility of the subject of business premises to fulfill the duty of security protection. If the duty of security protection is not fulfilled, causing damage to others, tort liability shall be borne. However, if the damage is caused by the act of a third party, the third party shall bear tort liability. In this case, if the manager or organizer fails to fulfill the duty of security protection, they shall bear corresponding supplementary liability.
Therefore, to avoid operational risks, managers of public places must ensure that they fulfill the duty of security protection during the service process, minimizing the occurrence of damage.
