Question the Law Hotline丨Is an injury during working hours considered a work-related injury?Focusing on personal injury compensation, lawyers interact with citizens online

Peninsula All Media Reporter Jiang Kai Yin Yanxin Intern Wang Xiaohan

Who should bear the loss if a passenger opens the door and injures a passer-by? Should the school be held responsible for a child who is injured in a fight with his classmates at school? In real life, it is difficult to avoid injuries due to various circumstances, and whether to bear the responsibility or find the tortfeasor to compensate for the injury after being injured is difficult for ordinary people to distinguish because the situation is complicated. On April 23, the Peninsula Legal Hotline [phone] focused on the topic of personal injury compensation, and invited lawyer Jia Xiaona and lawyer You Pengfei of Shandong Yiheng Law Firm to answer questions from citizens online and analyze legal relationships for the callers.

"Hello, is it the lawyer of the Peninsula Legal Hotline?" At 9:30 a.m., the Peninsula Legal Hotline was opened as scheduled, and citizens called one after another to inquire about the legal problems encountered.

"In 2022, I joined the work, signed a contract with the company, and the company also insured me, some time ago, in the company's workshop, I was playing with my colleagues, and in the process, I fell and broke my leg, and I couldn't continue to work and recuperate at home. Mr. Li called to ask lawyer Jia Xiaona, "After this happened, I applied to the relevant department for recognition of work-related injury, but after investigation, the relevant department said that my injury was not a work-related injury, and I would like to ask whether the company should bear the liability for compensation."

After understanding what happened, Mr. Jia said that if an employer purchases work-related injury insurance for an employee, the work-related injury insurance fund shall be responsible for compensating for the relevant items after the employee suffers a work-related injury, and the employer shall compensate for the items for which the employer is responsible for compensation according to the law;

"You have an employment relationship with a company, but the injury you suffer is not caused by the labor matter, and the company is not at fault for the consequences of your injury, so the company should not be liable for the loss. Lawyer Jia advised Mr. Li to claim rights against the infringer, who was the colleague with whom he caused the injury. "You can negotiate with the other party, and if the negotiation fails, you can go to the court to file a lawsuit, and the court will divide the responsibility according to the situation. ”

"Not long ago, the family's old house was renovated, I found our local contractor, but in the process of construction, the contractor fell off the shelf and fell and injured himself, and now he is looking for us for medical expenses, lost work expenses and other expenses of nearly 50,000 yuan, I want to ask the lawyer, should we pay this money?" Ms. Liu said that the project was contracted to him at that time, but because it was from the villagers, he did not sign any contract. "He fell off without paying attention during the construction process, and this responsibility should be borne by himself, right?"

At the same time, the lawyer learned that in the process of renovating the house, Ms. Liu did not obtain the approval procedures from the relevant departments. "From your description, you and the contractor are in a contractual relationship. Lawyer You Pengfei said that the so-called contract refers to a contract in which one party completes a certain amount of work and delivers the work results according to the requirements of the other party, and the other party should accept the work results and pay a certain remuneration, and the contractor has relative independence in the process of completing the work. "If the contractor causes damage to a third party or its own damage in the process of completing the work, the contractor shall not bear tort liability. However, if the person making the order is at fault for the ordering, instruction or selection, he shall bear the corresponding responsibility. ”

"Due to this contract, you let the contractor continue to renovate the house even though you knew that the house was renovated without a planning permit and without the corresponding approval procedures, and you failed to fulfill the supervision and reminder obligations for safe construction during the construction of the house, which is at fault, and you should bear corresponding responsibility for the contractor's injury. The contractor also failed to fulfill the duty of safety care during the construction process, and there was a big fault, and he should also bear the corresponding responsibility. Lawyer You suggested that Ms. Liu negotiate with the contractor to resolve the liability issue.

After the occurrence of personal injury, the issue of compensation for losses is the focus of attention, and there are many calls from the public to consult, and the reporter has sorted out some typical problems for the reference of citizens in need.

Question 1: Should a primary school student be liable for compensation for personal injury suffered at school?

Mr. Liu's child was 8 years old last year and was in the third grade of a primary school. Before the start of the final exam last year, Xiao Liu used a sticker board rolled into a cylinder in the classroom to watch with his right eye, and classmate Xiao Yuan patted the other end of the sticker board into a cylinder with his hand, Xiao Liu felt a sharp pain in his right eye, and his classmates sent him to the school doctor's office, the school doctor was not a professional ophthalmologist, and it was not serious from the appearance examination. Subsequently, the school notified Mr. Liu, and Mr. Liu took Xiao Liu to an eye hospital for treatment, and the hospital diagnosed blunt trauma to the eyeball, corneal lamellar laceration, and bulbar conjunctival laceration. Later, Mr. Liu found a professional institution for identification, and the appraisal results determined that Xiao Liu's injury was consistent with the characteristics of injury caused by blunt external force acting on the human body, and similar injuries could be caused by bullet injuries from the sticker. Xiao Liu's right eye was moderately visually impaired, and the degree of disability caused by his injury was assessed as grade 10. Mr. Liu asked the lawyer whether the school should be liable for compensation for the personal injuries suffered by the child in the school.

Lawyer's statement: Xiao Liu was 8 years old when he was injured, and he is a person with limited civil capacity in the legal sense. According to the relevant laws and regulations, when a person with limited capacity for civil conduct suffers damage to an educational institution, the principle of fault liability shall be applied to the educational institution, that is, when the educational institution is at fault for the occurrence of the consequences of the damage, it shall be liable for compensation within the scope of its fault for failing to perform its educational and management duties. According to Mr. Liu's description, the main person responsible for Xiao Liu's injuries was his classmate Xiao Yuan, who should bear the main liability for compensation. However, Xiao Yuan is a minor, and the liability for compensation should be borne by his guardian. In judging whether a school has fulfilled its educational and management duties, the provisions of normative legal documents shall be used as a standard for comparison and judgment, and factors such as the school's duty of care and its predictability and preventability of the occurrence of harmful results shall also be comprehensively considered in light of the specific circumstances. If the damage occurs more than the general public predicts, it cannot be considered that the school has failed to fulfill its educational and management responsibilities. It should be made clear that although the relationship between the school and the student is an "educational management relationship", the fact that the parent sends the student to the school does not mean that the parent's guardianship responsibility is completely handed over to the school like a baton, nor does it mean that the school is responsible for all damage accidents that occur on the student's campus.

Question 2: Do I need to bear tort liability for crushing another person's arm while kicking a ball?

Mr. Cai and Mr. Huang live in the same community, and they both like to play football and often go to an open space in the community to play football together. One day in May 2023, the two came to the open field to play football with others. During this time, in order to catch the football kicked into the air by others, Mr. Cai adjusted his position and jumped slightly. In order to avoid the ball kicked from the opposite side, Mr. Huang squatted behind Mr. Cai. Mr. Cai tripped over Mr. Huang, who was squatting, then fell to the ground and crushed Mr. Huang's right hand, and was diagnosed with a fracture of the lateral condyle of the right humerus, which was forensically assessed as a Grade 10 disability. Mr. Huang is now asking for damages, and Mr. Cai asked the lawyer whether he should bear tort liability because he was tripped by Mr. Huang and crushed the other party.

The lawyer said: The "Civil Code" stipulates that if a person voluntarily participates in a cultural or sports activity with a certain risk and suffers damage due to the behavior of other participants, it is a "willing risk", and the victim may not request other participants to bear tort liability; According to general life experience, football is a fierce confrontational sport, and collision, blocking, and snatching are basic sports behaviors, which are group, confrontational, and personally dangerous, so they belong to the scope of cultural and sports activities with certain risks. Although Mr Choi crushed Mr Wong's arm, Mr Choi did not have subjective malice or obvious foul play at the time of the injury, so Mr Choi was not liable in tort for Mr Wong's injury.

Question 3: If I fall and am injured while playing a VR game, does the experience center need to bear the liability for compensation?

Some time ago, Ms. Zhou and her friends came to a VR game experience hall to experience VR games. At that time, the staff of the experience hall only briefly introduced the operating rules to Ms. Zhou, and did not remind her of anything else, so she started to experience the game. In the VR environment, Ms. Zhou felt that her body control was not smooth, and when she did a dodge maneuver, she fell to the ground hard, and she was in pain and couldn't move. Friends and staff came forward to help her up, and together sent her to the hospital for treatment, after the examination, the doctor issued a certificate of illness, recommended to rest for 3 days, the treatment cost nearly 5,000 yuan. The friend told Ms. Zhou that after her experience began, the staff came to sit outside the experience area and looked at her phone until she fell. Ms. Zhou asked her lawyer whether the VR game experience center should compensate for her medical expenses.

The lawyer said: Ms. Zhou went to the VR game experience hall to consume and experience VR games, and there was a service contract relationship between her and the experience hall during the game. According to relevant laws and regulations, consumers have the right not to be harmed in their personal and property safety when purchasing and using goods and receiving services. Proprietors shall ensure that the goods or services they provide meet the requirements for ensuring the safety of persons and property. For goods and services that might endanger the safety of persons or property, consumers shall be given a truthful explanation and clear warning, and the methods for using the goods or receiving services correctly and the methods for preventing harm from occurring shall be explained and marked. In the VR environment, the player's brain will enter an unfamiliar virtual world, and the player's self-awareness, sense of space, sense of distance and memory will be greatly affected by the virtual world, resulting in the control of the body by the brain, and the player of the VR game is more likely to cause personal injury than the player playing the game in the real world, so the player needs to pay more attention to the personal safety and security obligations of the game operator when experiencing the VR game. According to Ms. Zhou's description, the staff of the experience hall did not ask the players about their physical condition in advance and inform them of the specific precautions during the experience, and the staff did not protect them during the experience, and the staff did not maintain a distance from the players that could effectively prevent the danger from occurring. It can be said that the experience center, as the operator, failed to fulfill its due duty of safety care, and was subjectively at fault, and should be liable for compensation for Ms. Zhou's injury.

Question 4: Do I need to be liable for compensation if I hit and injure someone while driving a car to deliver goods to my boss?

Mr. Li is a truck driver with driving qualifications and is employed by Mr. Liu's company to transport goods. Some time ago, Mr. Li was driving a light ordinary truck to make a delivery when he collided with Mr. Wang, who was riding a bicycle, causing Mr. Wang to be injured. The accident liability letter issued by the traffic police at the scene determined that Mr. Li was fully responsible for the accident. The truck driven by Mr. Li was registered as the owner of Mr. Liu, and the insurance of the truck had expired. Now the victim, Mr. Wang, is asking Mr. Li and his employer, Mr. Liu, to compensate for the loss, and Mr. Li asks the lawyer whether he should be liable for compensation if he injured others during the delivery process.

Lawyer's statement: According to the relevant laws and regulations, if an employee causes damage in the course of employment activities, the employer shall be liable for compensation, and if the employee causes damage due to intentional or gross negligence, he shall be jointly and severally liable with the employer. Mr. Li was a driver hired by Mr. Liu, and the accident caused by the vehicle was caused by the performance of his duties and employment activities, and Mr. Liu should be liable for civil compensation to the victim, Mr. Wang. However, Mr. Li bears full responsibility for the accident and should be jointly and severally liable for compensation. Therefore, the compensation for the victim Mr. Wang should be borne by Mr. Liu, the owner of the car, within the scope of the compulsory traffic insurance, and Mr. Liu should bear all the liability for the shortfall, and Mr. Li should be jointly and severally liable.

Question 5: If a person is injured at a friend's birthday dinner, is he liable for compensation?

Mr. Li is Ms. Huang's husband, and some time ago, Mr. Li's friend Mr. Wang celebrated his birthday and invited Mr. Li and 5 other people to have dinner to celebrate his birthday. During the dinner, Mr. Li and his friends drank a lot of wine, and by the end of the dinner, Mr. Li was already a little drunk. His friend said he wanted to drop him off, but Mr. Li insisted on taking a taxi to leave. When he arrived at the community and walked home, Mr. Li fell heavily due to the strength of the alcohol, resulting in multiple injuries to his body. Ms. Huang asked her lawyer whether her husband should be liable for Mr. Li's injuries if her husband was in a drunken state and his friends who had been drinking with him did not send him home safely.

Lawyer's statement: There is a provision in the Civil Code that if the actor infringes on the civil rights and interests of others and causes damage due to his fault, he shall bear tort liability. Where two or more persons jointly commit tortious acts, causing harm to others, they shall bear joint and several liability. When a co-drinker is in a dangerous state such as drunkenness, the other co-drinkers should promptly take reasonable obligations such as care, rescue, notification, and medical treatment to avoid harm to the intoxicated person, which is a legal obligation arising from the act of drinking together. As an adult, Mr. Li was at fault for his drunken fall and injury, and his friend who was drinking with him failed to fulfill his legal obligation to send him home safely while he was drunk, and should bear the corresponding liability for compensation. I would also like to remind everyone that it is the most normal social behavior for relatives and friends to meet for food and drink to connect and enhance friendship. But drinking pleasantly, drinking hurts the body. Every drinker is the highest duty of care for the safety of their own lives, we must have the courage to refuse the persuasion of others, drinking, according to their own physical condition to drink moderately, which is not only responsible for their own life safety, but also responsible for their families.

Ask the law to understand

Lawyer Jia Xiaona: In social life, people's personal safety and rights and interests will inevitably be infringed, and there are various types of personal injury disputes, the more common ones are a few of today's calls, such as disputes over the right to life and health in the case of drinking together, disputes over compensation for personal injuries in road traffic accidents, disputes over compensation for damages from employers, disputes over product liability, etc., when encountering such disputes, it is necessary to fix evidence in a timely manner, call the police, keep good diagnosis and treatment records, etc., and use legal channels to better protect their rights and interests. At the same time, as the first person responsible for our own safety care obligations, we should enhance our safety awareness, consciously abide by the rules and regulations of the place and the norms of social behavior when entering public areas to engage in various activities, avoid dangerous accidents, and better safeguard our own life safety and property safety.

If a consumer suffers personal injury in the process of participation, and the operator only claims that the safety awareness of the participants is insufficient and there is no evidence to prove that the participants are at fault, the operators will bear full responsibility for the consequences of the damages. It is recommended that operators should take adequate safety precautions, fully remind consumers of potential risks, set up eye-catching signs, explain the gameplay and rules in detail, investigate potential safety hazards in a timely manner, and do a good job in software and hardware protection facilities to ensure the personal and property safety of consumers and prevent problems before they occur.

Related Case: Who Should Be Responsible? Brief facts of the case

Wu and Zhang are colleagues, Wu drove the vehicle, Zhang took the road, and when waiting for the signal light at the intersection, Zhang temporarily got out of the car and said "thank you" to Wu, Wu realized that Zhang was going to get out of the car and replied "You're welcome" At the same time, he found that Kong was riding an electric car from the rear, and Zhang had opened the door when he made a loud prompt, and collided with Kong, causing Kong to be injured. According to the traffic police department, Wu and Zhang are equally responsible for the accident, and Kong is not responsible. Kong was hospitalized for 14 days after being injured, spending more than 50,000 yuan in medical expenses, and was identified as a grade 10 disability.

Court rulings

After trial, the court held that Wu and Zhang subjectively failed to fulfill their duty of care as traffic participants, and had joint fault, constituting joint infringement, and should bear joint and several liability for compensation. Because the vehicle driven by Wu has been insured by the insurance company with compulsory traffic insurance and three insurances, the insurance company shall bear the liability for compensation, and the insurance company may separately recover from other jointly and severally liable persons in accordance with the law after assuming joint and several liability in accordance with the law.

What the judge said

The small act of "parking and opening the door" hides a "killing machine", and a little carelessness may cause a big disaster. Wu drove a non-commercial vehicle to carry Zhang free of charge, Zhang temporarily opened the door and got out of the car, and Wu failed to prevent it in time, resulting in a traffic accident. In this case, the driver and the passenger are jointly and severally liable for joint infringement, warning the driver and the passenger that they are both responsible for traffic safety, and that the awareness of responsibility and rules should be strengthened, so as to effectively prevent and reduce the occurrence of such road traffic accidents from the source, and shape a safe and civilized trend in the new era.