The parents of the students who broke their teeth at school claimed 80,000 yuan, and the court: the school has fulfilled its educational and management responsibilities and is not responsible

Nine News

2024-05-10 13:40Posted on the official account of Hubei Wuhan Morning News Jiupai News

If a student breaks his tooth in the stairwell of the school, is the school responsible? On May 10, the Jiangsu Provincial High People's Court made a case public.

One evening in 2024, Xiao Xu, who is in the sixth grade, went downstairs from school with his teacher and classmates. During the procession of the boys and girls descending from the third floor to the second floor, Xiao Xu, who was at the back of the line, accidentally fell on the staircase steps and fell to the corner of the stairwell landing, knocking his teeth against the wall.

After the teacher found that Xiao Xu had fallen, he immediately contacted his parents and accompanied him to the hospital. According to the hospital's diagnosis, Xiao Xu had a broken tooth and a bruised lip.

Xiao Xu's father believed that the school did not supervise the personal safety of students during the school process, and sued the school to bear the medical expenses of 633.07 yuan and follow-up treatment expenses that had been incurred, and compensate for various losses such as transportation expenses, lost work expenses, and mental damages, totaling 80,000 yuan.

The school said that it has carried out safety warning education on a regular basis before and after class, emphasizing many times the content of "going up and down the stairs and walking in order". There are also no defects in school facilities such as stairs that caused Xiao Xu's injury.

The judge inspected the staircase where the accident occurred. Photo/Jiangsu High Court

The collegial panel of the court inspected the accident and used VR technology to restore the scene of the incident. During the trial, the school combined VR to explain the location of the leading teacher at the time of the incident, the process of Xiao Xu's fall, and the process of the leading teacher at the scene of the incident to deal with the accident at the first time. Xiao Xu's father could not clearly point out the specific fault of the school at the time of the incident.

After the trial, the court held that the focus of the dispute in this case was whether the school was at fault. According to Article 1200 of the Civil Code, if a person with limited capacity for civil conduct suffers personal injury while studying or living in a school or other educational institution, and the school or other educational institution fails to perform its educational and management duties, it shall bear tort liability.

In this case, according to the results of the court's on-site inspection and evidence, Xiao Xu's injuries from falling were not caused by defects in facilities such as stairs, nor were they caused by the school's negligence. The "Special Education Record Sheet" provided by the school states that the school will carry out safety and health education every week; The staircase at the site of the incident has a clear yellow and black dividing line between the upper and lower sides, and eye-catching safety reminder signs are posted on many steps and walls, fulfilling the school's educational responsibilities.

In addition, after Xiao Xu was injured, the school promptly notified the parents, accompanied the medical treatment, cooperated with the investigation of the incident, and performed the necessary management duties of the school. Accordingly, the court dismissed the plaintiff's claim.

The judge said that primary and secondary schools are the places with the highest concentration of minors, and they are also places where injuries to minors are more likely to occur, but the determination of tort liability in the case of campus injury cannot be determined that the school must be liable just because the accident occurred on campus. In this case, the school had carried out campus safety education on a regular basis, the school facilities had eye-catching safety reminder signs, and the school had fulfilled its educational and management responsibilities by discovering the accident at the first time, notifying the parents at the first time, and accompanying the medical treatment at the first time, so the school did not bear tort liability.

Jiupai News reporter Yang Bingyu

Edited by Gu Zixuan and Xiao Jie

[Source: Jiupai News]

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