The hotel billboard smashed the guest's vehicle and paid 100,000 yuan, can the insurance company refuse to pay the compensation because the monitoring did not photograph it?

A private car parked in the open space of the hotel was smashed by a falling billboard. After paying for the damage, the hotel requested the insurance company to make a claim within the scope of the public liability insurance, but was refused. Is the insurance company's refusal justified? Recently, the Shanghai Hongkou District People's Court (hereinafter referred to as the Shanghai Hongkou Court) concluded the trial of such a case of a dispute over a liability insurance contract.

The guest's private car was suspected to have been damaged by a billboard

On the evening of July 22, 2022, Mr. Li went to a hotel to check in, parked his vehicle in the open space of the hotel, and drove away the next morning. About an hour later, Mr. Li returned to the hotel, saying that his vehicle had been smashed by an unknown object, and the front hood, headlights, front bumper and other parts were damaged.

During the negotiation, Mr. Li claimed that he had parked his car in the open space on the left side of the hotel lobby the night before. Subsequently, the two parties found that part of the frame was missing from the billboard at the top of the hotel's exterior wall above the location, and the wreckage of the frame and fragments of vehicle headlights were scattered on the ground nearby. However, this location is not within the scope of monitoring, and the surveillance video cannot be retrieved. Subsequently, Mr. Li sent the vehicle for repair, and the hotel compensated Mr. Li for the maintenance cost of $100,000.

After the hotel paid the claim, the insurance was denied

Previously, the hotel had taken out public liability insurance with an insurance company. The insurance contract stipulates that the hotel shall be liable for economic compensation to a third party in accordance with the law due to an accident at the risk address contained in the insurance policy, and an insurance company shall settle the claim.

As a result, the hotel requested an insurance company to make an insurance claim within the scope of public liability insurance, but was refused on the grounds that the cause of the accident was unknown. After several unsuccessful negotiations, the hotel sued the Hongkou Court in Shanghai, demanding that the insurance company pay the insurance claim.

During the trial, an insurance company argued that the adjuster had gone to the incident site on July 24, 2022 to investigate, but could not obtain any surveillance video, and Mr. Li found that the vehicle was damaged after driving away and then turned back to the hotel, so it was impossible to determine where the vehicle was originally parked, and it was impossible to determine whether the loss of the vehicle was caused by the fall of the billboard on the exterior wall of the hotel, so he did not agree to bear the insurance liability.

The court ruled that the insurance should pay the claim

After trial, the Shanghai Hongkou Court held that the focus of the dispute in this case was whether the loss of Mr. Li's vehicle was caused by the fall of the hotel's exterior billboard.

According to the public liability insurance policy, an insurance company shall be liable for economic compensation for personal injury or property damage to a third party caused by an accident caused by negligence in the course of business activities or its own business within the specified premises during the insurance period.

The plaintiff hotel, as the insured, bears the burden of proof for the accident that caused the loss of a third party due to its own business negligence within the premises specified in the policy. Because the open space under the hotel billboard was not covered by surveillance, and both the hotel and Mr. Li discovered that the billboard on the exterior wall of the hotel had fallen and the vehicle was damaged, there was no direct and objective evidence to prove the accident in this case.

However, based on the entry and exit monitoring records and parking fee payment records of Mr. Li's vehicle provided by the hotel, it can be inferred that Mr. Li's vehicle was indeed parked in the hotel from the night of July 22, 2022 to the next day. In addition, the photos of the damage to the vehicle and the wreckage of the ground frame provided by the hotel and the video of the damage to the vehicle and the wreckage of the ground frame taken by Mr. Li can also corroborate each other, and it can be inferred that both of them were formed at the scene of the negotiation when Mr. Li returned to the hotel.

The location of the vehicle's parking, the location of the billboard on the exterior wall of the hotel, the missing frame body, the wreckage on the ground, and the traces of damage to the vehicle confirmed by the hotel and Mr. Li, as described by the hotel, the section on which the billboard on the exterior wall of the hotel fell and injured Mr. Li's vehicle, are probable. If the hotel cannot prove that it is not at fault, it can be determined that the hotel is at fault for the accident.

In summary, it can be determined that the loss suffered by Mr. Li's vehicle was caused by the fall of the billboard during the operation of the hotel, which meets the insurance liability scope of the public liability insurance.

In the end, after reviewing the relevant evidence and deducting the deductible for each accident, the Shanghai Hongkou Court ordered the insurance company to pay Hotel A a compensation of RMB 99,500 in accordance with the law.

How is the probability-proof standard applied?

Operators and managers of hotels, supermarkets, shopping malls, scenic spots and other public places have the obligation to ensure the safety of the public in accordance with the law. If an accident occurs in the production and operation activities of a specific place and causes damage to the person or property of a third party, the operator or manager often faces the assumption of legal liability such as tort. As the "protective umbrella" of operators in public places, public liability insurance can transfer the risk of damage to potential third parties in decentralized business activities, and has a positive effect on improving the risk management level and anti-risk ability of operators.

Public liability insurance is a specific type of insurance that takes the legal liability of the operator or manager to a third party who suffers damage from an accident in a specific place or area as the subject matter of insurance.

The insured is usually the operator or manager of the relevant public area or its affiliates, branches, etc.;

The area covered is usually a specific production and business premises that involve public access;

The object of liability of the insured is an unspecified third party, usually other entities other than the insured, its employees and representatives.

Public liability insurance belongs to the category of liability insurance, there is no insurance value, usually the insurer and the policyholder negotiate to determine the amount of insurance, and then the insurer combines regional risk factors, historical insurance situation and other corresponding premiums.

According to the law, "if the people's court is convinced that the existence of the facts to be proved is highly probable after reviewing the evidence provided by the party who bears the burden of proof, and taking into account the relevant facts, it shall find that the facts exist". This article establishes a rule of evidence with a high degree of probability. The so-called high degree of probability refers to a way of cognition in which judges judge the facts to be proved based on their rules of thumb, common sense and logical reasoning, and follow the general laws of the development of things and a high degree of probability, when their cognition of things does not meet the necessary conditions.

In practice, for facts to be proved that are not supported by direct and objective evidence, which are related to the rights and obligations of the parties or affect the outcome of the judgment of the case, it is necessary to review the evidence provided by both parties, and judge whether the relevant evidence has probative force and the extent of the probative force in light of the form and type of evidence, the method of obtaining it, and the corroboration between each other, so as to gradually form an inner conviction of the disputed facts.

In this case, the photos provided by the hotel such as the monitoring of the entry and exit of the vehicle, the photos of the billboard on the exterior wall of the hotel, and the wreckage of the ground frame were supported by Mr. Li's statement and the video taken, and based on the location of the vehicle, the location of the billboard on the exterior wall of the hotel, and the traces of damage to the vehicle, it can be determined that the vehicle was injured by the fall of the billboard and has a high probability based on the common sense of life experience.