An unpaid blood donor was hit by a car
Blood costs are incurred during the process of being sent to the hospital for treatment
Well, the cost of blood is after reimbursement
Whether it is still possible to bear the responsibility for the accident
The driver who caused the accident claimed compensation
……
If an unpaid blood donor is hit by a car and is sent to the hospital for treatment, the blood cost can be reimbursed to the office of the local Citizens' Blood Donation Committee in accordance with the Blood Donation Law and other relevant laws and regulations. So, after the reimbursement of blood expenses, can it still claim compensation from the driver who caused the accident? A case of supervision of an effective civil judgment handled by the Guizhou Provincial Procuratorate a few days ago has given an answer to this question.
Unpaid blood donors were bruised
Disputes over the cost of blood are argued
On January 4, 2018, a two-vehicle collision traffic accident occurred in Guizhou on the Yinbai Expressway. In the process of rescue by the rescue vehicle, Wen Mouqiang drove a small passenger car and collided with the rescue vehicle and the driver of the accident car waiting on the side of the road, Yuan Mousong and others. Yuan Mousong was sent to the hospital for treatment due to his serious injuries. Later, a high-speed brigade of the traffic police detachment of the Qiannan Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture Public Security Bureau in Guizhou Province determined that Wen Mouqiang bore all the responsibility for the accident, and Yuan Mousong and others were not responsible.
Afterwards, Yuan Mousong sued Wen Mouqiang and the insurance company whose vehicle was insured to the Meitan County Court in Guizhou Province, requesting that Wen Mouqiang be ordered to compensate for various losses totaling more than 350,000 yuan (excluding the part that had been advanced), and that a property insurance company compensate for the losses claimed in his first claim within the scope of its insurance liability. After the Meitan County Court held a trial, it was determined that Yuan Mousong's losses totaled more than 350,000 yuan, and after deducting the 140,000 yuan that had been advanced by an insurance company, the insurance company was sentenced to compensate Yuan Mousong for various losses totaling more than 210,000 yuan.
Yuan Mousong was dissatisfied with the calculation standards and compensation amounts for medical expenses, lost work expenses, and nursing expenses, and appealed to the Zunyi Municipal Court.
It turned out that in the process of treatment, Yuan Mousong used blood due to serious injuries, and as a blood donation volunteer, Yuan Mousong had donated blood for many times, according to the mainland blood donation law and other laws and regulations, Yuan Mousong had been reimbursed for the 5,180 yuan blood expenses incurred after the injury. The court held that the expenses had been reimbursed and that Yuan could no longer be compensated.
"Because I was a volunteer blood donor and had donated blood many times, I was reimbursed for that blood fee. If I am just an ordinary person and I have not been reimbursed for that expense, can I be compensated? However, I cannot reduce the tortfeasor's liability for compensation because of my good intentions. Yuan Mousong said.
Yuan Mousong was dissatisfied with the first-instance judgment and appealed. In May 2019, the Zunyi Intermediate People's Court made a second-instance judgment, increasing part of the medical expenses, hospital meal subsidies, living expenses of dependents, etc., and changed the judgment to the property insurance company to compensate Yuan Mousong for various losses of more than 240,000 yuan. However, it was held that the blood expenses reimbursed by Yuan Mousong for his unpaid blood donation were not losses caused by the accident, and it was not improper for the court of first instance to deduct the expenses.
Yuan Mousong was still dissatisfied with the amount of compensation and applied to the Guizhou Provincial High Court for a retrial. In December 2019, the Guizhou Provincial High Court ruled that the Zunyi Intermediate People's Court should be appointed to retry the case. In June 2020, the Zunyi Intermediate People's Court made a retrial judgment, finding that Yuan Mousong's reimbursement of blood expenses was a benefit for unpaid blood donors, and the compensation for traffic accidents was for direct losses caused by torts, and the reimbursement of blood expenses made Yuan Mousong not incur losses in this expense, so it only increased the medical expenses and mental damage solatium by a total of more than 13,000 yuan, and still did not support the blood expenses that had been reimbursed.
Dissatisfied with the judgment and applied for supervision
The procuratorate lodged a protest
Yuan Mousong was dissatisfied with the retrial verdict and applied to the Zunyi City Procuratorate for supervision. After review, the Zunyi Municipal Procuratorate submitted a protest to the Guizhou Provincial Procuratorate.
In May 2021, the Guizhou Provincial Procuratorate set up a case-handling team with the main leaders of the procuratorate as the lead prosecutor for the case. After a comprehensive review, the case-handling team believes that although the current law does not clearly stipulate whether the infringer can be required to compensate for the loss of unpaid blood donors after reimbursing the blood expenses, the reimbursement of blood expenses by unpaid blood donors is based on the blood donation law and belongs to the scope of administrative law, while the compensation for tort damages is based on the civil code and belongs to the scope of civil law.
Due to the lack of clear provisions in the current law and the inconsistent judgments in various places, the case handling team decided to submit the case to a joint meeting of prosecutors for discussion.
"The court's judgment confused the two different legal relationships of unpaid blood donors' reimbursement of blood expenses and tort damages, and applied the law incorrectly. ”
"If the judicial judgment finds that the blood expenses of the unpaid blood donor cannot be claimed from the infringer, it will lead to the benefits that should be given to the unpaid blood donor being obtained by the infringer in disguise, thereby reducing the infringer's liability for compensation and violating the core values of socialism. ”
"The reimbursement of blood expenses should be a reward for unpaid blood donors' previous blood donations, which is a special treatment prescribed by law, and does not conflict with tort damages, and can be both. ”
At the joint meeting of prosecutors, everyone expressed their opinions from different angles and unanimously agreed to protest the prosecution.
On August 19, 2021, the Guizhou Provincial Procuratorate held an expert discussion meeting on the case.
In order to handle the case more accurately, in August 2021, the Guizhou Provincial Procuratorate held an expert discussion meeting, inviting experts from the Legislative Affairs Committee of the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Congress, the Provincial Health Commission, the Provincial Blood Center, and the Guizhou Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, as well as lawyers and scholars.
Experts from the Legislative Affairs Committee of the Standing Committee of the Guizhou Provincial People's Congress said in their speeches that the focus of this case is whether the unpaid blood donors can continue to claim compensation from the infringer after reimbursing the blood expenses. At present, the judicial interpretation does not clearly stipulate this, and the judgments of various places are inconsistent. The Guizhou Provincial Procuratorate dared to treat this case as a supervision case and an expert consultation case, which reflected the responsibility of the procuratorial organs and supported the procuratorial organs in raising a protest.
"Yuan Mousong's unpaid blood donation is an act of selfless dedication, and she did not expect that she would use blood one day in the process of donating blood. Every unpaid blood donor is helping others, and judicial decisions should first protect the interests of unpaid blood donors, so as to encourage more people to participate in unpaid blood donation. Experts from the Guizhou Provincial Blood Center also introduced the legislative spirit of some provisions of the Blood Donation Law, the current situation of unpaid blood donation and the difficulties encountered, supported the procuratorial organs' protests, and safeguarded the legitimate rights and interests of unpaid blood donors.
Experts from the Guizhou Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission believe that the amount of compensation for medical expenses and other expenses by insurance companies is determined on the basis of various vouchers issued by medical institutions, and that the blood expenses have been reimbursed, and it is not improper for the court to deduct the expenses in the judgment.
After discussion, the vast majority of the experts attending the meeting agreed with the opinions of the procuratorial organs. At the same time, it is believed that this case has leading and guiding value under the current situation of unclear legal provisions and inconsistent judgments in various places.
After the expert argumentation meeting, in order to gain an in-depth understanding of Yuan Mousong's living situation and mental state, the procurator who undertook the undertaking visited Yuan Mousong's home. It is understood that Yuan Mousong is a medical worker and knows the importance of blood donation to others and society. Since 1999, when she started working, she has been involved in unpaid blood donation. Yuan Mousong's blood donation certificate has a record of her multiple blood donations in the past 24 years.
"Although I was reimbursed for my blood expenses, it was because I had been donating blood for so many years without compensation, and the court decided to deduct this expense from the tort accident compensation, which I very much did not understand. I can't accept that because I donated blood for free, I reduced the liability of the driver who caused the accident. The procuratorate visited and comforted me after the accident, which made me feel very warm. Yuan Mousong said.
The court retried and changed the verdict
The insurance company should reimburse the cost of blood use
In July 2021, the Guizhou Provincial Procuratorate filed a protest with the Provincial High People's Court in accordance with the law, arguing that the effective judgment mechanically applied the "filling principle" and equated the reimbursement of blood expenses for unpaid blood donors with the infringer's tort damages, and erred in applying the law. At the same time, the effective judgment violates the core values of socialism to a certain extent, and has caused a bad direction for unpaid blood donors.
In August 2021, the Guizhou Provincial High Court ruled to bring the case to trial, and the trial began in February 2022. The Guizhou Provincial Procuratorate sent personnel to attend the courtroom, read out the protest letter, and issued the final supervisory opinion. Yuan Mousong agreed with the procuratorate's protest opinion, and at the same time raised objections to other compensation costs, and requested the court to make a fair judgment in accordance with the law.
A property insurance company replied that Yuan Mousong had reimbursed the blood expenses, that she had no loss, and that she should not be compensated repeatedly, and responded to Yuan Mousong's other objections, requesting the court to reject all of Yuan Mousong's requests.
Due to differences in the opinions of the collegial panel for the retrial, the case was submitted to the adjudication committee for discussion. In December 2022 and September 2023, the Guizhou Provincial High Court held two trial committee meetings to study the case. The Guizhou Provincial Procuratorate undertook the procurator to attend the meeting of the trial committee twice as an observer, and explained to the members of the trial committee the reasons for the procuratorate's protest: the exemption of fees for unpaid blood donors when they need blood in clinical need is an affirmation and praise of the national laws and policies for the blood donors to carry forward the humanitarian spirit, which is conducive to ensuring the needs and safety of medical and clinical blood use. Unpaid blood donors can be reimbursed for blood expenses at the blood donation office, which is a legal relationship established between the unpaid blood donor and the blood donation office in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Blood Donation Law. This case is a dispute over liability for a motor vehicle traffic accident, which is another legal relationship arising from tort liability between the driver and the victim of the accident. Since the two are different legal relationships, whether the blood expenses of the unpaid blood donors are reimbursed has nothing to do with the amount of damage liability that the driver and the insurance company should bear to the victim in this case. The deduction of Yuan Mousong's blood expenses reimbursed by the blood donation office for unpaid blood donation from the tort liability that the infringer and the insurance company should bear has created a pattern of benefit distribution between citizens donating blood without compensation and benefiting the infringer, which violates the legislative intent of the relevant provisions of the Blood Donation Law and the Civil Code, and is an error in the application of law.
In the end, the procuratorate's protest opinion was supported and adopted by the court.
In September 2023, the Guizhou Provincial High Court held after trial that Yuan Mousong's blood expenses of 5,180 yuan belonged to medical expenses, and medical expenses belonged to the category of property losses, and Yuan Mousong, as an unpaid blood donor, enjoyed the right to reimburse blood expenses, which was a material reward and spiritual affirmation based on the selfless dedication of unpaid blood donors, and belonged to the state's encouragement of unpaid blood donors, and did not belong to the income from tort damages, and did not affect his claim for compensation for blood expenses from the infringer and its insurance company. A property insurance company was ordered to compensate for the blood expenses and Yuan Mousong's other litigation claims were rejected.
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Source: Procuratorate Daily, Minsheng Weekly