The Supreme People's Court of China publicized Monday an Explanation on Several Questions Concerning Relevant Laws of Handling Infringement and Personal Injury Compensation Cases (opinion-soliciting draft) on its website, widely soliciting opinions from the public. The draft clearly stipulates how to handle cases which has not been clearly regulated previously in the law including injuries occurring in hotels or parks, injuries to volunteers and students injured in schools.
Injuries occurring in hotels or parks
To Chinese citizens who are attacked or injured in hotels or parks, if the perpetrator hasn't been caught, can the victim first demand the hotel or park to shoulder its responsibility? This is usually a very controversial question in judicial practice.
The draft regulates that: to people engaged in lodging, catering and recreation business or other social activities which are open to the public, if they fail to fulfill their duties in security within a reasonable range, and which leads to personal injuries of other people, they should shoulder the responsibility of compensation.
If the victim is injured by a third party and the injury has something to do with the failure of the hotel, park or restaurant in fulfilling their duties of security, the third party should first shoulder the responsibility of compensation; if the whereabouts of the third party is unknown or the third party is unable to shoulder the compensation, people who have duties on guaranteeing safety should shoulder part of the compensation. Under such circumstances, the victim can claim compensation from the hotel.
Injuries of volunteers
The judicial Explanation has clearly regulated that: if volunteers are injured during the course of performing voluntary services, the person who is using the volunteer should shoulder compensation responsibility. When the user of the volunteer and the beneficiary are not the same person, the beneficiary should make some relevant compensation according to the conditions. The volunteer should shoulder some responsibility if he or she has made a significant misstep on purpose.
Volunteers who suffer personal injuries caused by accidents during the course of performing voluntary service, will be handled according to different conditions: if the voluntary service which is approved by the user of the volunteer, the user should shoulder compensation responsibility. If the voluntary service which is clearly turned down and the volunteer still insists on helping, the user of the volunteer should make certain compensations according to the beneficial conditions of the user.
Injuries of students
Schools, kindergartens or other education organizations, which fail to fulfill their duties of supervision and protection and lead to injuries of minors, should shoulder corresponding civil responsibility equal to their mistakes. Schools which have fulfilled their duties of supervision, and when students are injured by a third party, the third party should shoulder civil responsibility.
(China.org.cn by Wang Qian, September 18, 2003)
