May 2024 is the fourth "Civil Code Publicity Month" in mainland China. The Civil Code of the People's Republic of China, known as the "encyclopedia of social life", is the first law named after the code in New China, occupies a fundamental position in the legal system, and is also the basic law of the market economy. Zu Miaojun selected 10 classic cases to help the masses better understand and learn the Civil Code by explaining the law with cases.
If I take an online ride-hailing service to the airport but am late and fail to catch the purchased flight, can I claim compensation from the ride-hailing driver and the platform for the loss of the missed flight? The court divides responsibilities 👇 in this way
If I take an online ride-hailing service to the airport but am late and fail to catch the purchased flight, can I claim compensation from the ride-hailing driver and the platform for the loss of the missed flight? Recently, the Tongzhou District People's Court of Beijing Municipality concluded a case of dispute over a taxi transportation contract, and found that the taxi driver and the taxi company did not breach the contract, and that the reason why the passenger Ms. Wang missed the plane was that she did not reserve sufficient time, and the relevant responsibilities should be borne by herself.
The court found that at 8:17 on July 7, 2022, Ms. Wang booked a car on an online car-hailing platform, and the driver, Master Zhao, took the order. However, it was not until 8:46 that Ms. Wang got into a taxi, and Master Zhao heard that the flight departure time was 9:30, so he accelerated all the way and finally arrived at the capital airport at 9:06, but Ms. Wang finally missed the plane and had to change the flight at 10:30 on the same day, resulting in a total of 958 yuan for changes and other taxes.
After the incident, Ms. Wang's multiple complaints and claims for compensation could not be resolved, so she sued Master Zhao, the taxi company and the online ride-hailing platform to the court, demanding a refund of the taxi fare and compensation for lost work and change fees.
During the trial, Ms. Wang said that she stood at the pick-up location at 8:09 to get a single taxi, but she did not see Master Zhao's vehicle for a long time. At 8:20, she made the first call to Master Zhao, clearly informed the pick-up location, and then made 7 calls with Master Zhao, but did not expect that Master Zhao not only could not understand the map and navigation, but also could not describe the location of the vehicle. Since it was the morning rush hour in Beijing, it was impossible for her to cancel the order and place a new order, so she finally dragged her suitcase and walked more than 800 meters across the road before she got into Master Zhao's taxi at 8:46.
Master Zhao and the taxi company believed that Ms. Wang placed the order at 8:17 a.m., and Master Zhao arrived at the designated pick-up location at 8:28 a.m. after receiving the order, but did not see Ms. Wang. Later, she spoke to Ms. Wang on the phone, but Ms. Wang was emotional and could not accurately describe her location, causing the vehicle to move farther and farther away from the pick-up location. After receiving Ms. Wang, Master Zhao delivered Ms. Wang to her destination in only 20 minutes under the condition of ensuring driving safety, which was 8 minutes faster than the estimated time of the platform. Ms. Wang's failure to reserve sufficient time for taking a taxi during the morning rush hour was the main reason for the missed flight, and she was obviously at fault.
The Tongzhou court held that, according to the dashcam video submitted by Master Zhao and the call record with Ms. Wang, after Ms. Wang placed the order at 8:17, Master Zhao had arrived at the passenger's pick-up location according to the navigation at 8:28, which did not exceed a reasonable range; After Ms. Wang got on the bus, Master Zhao delivered her to the destination in a short time while ensuring the safety of the car, and did not deliberately delay Ms. Wang's trip, so all of Ms. Wang's claims were dismissed.
Ms. Wang was not satisfied and appealed. The Beijing No. 3 Intermediate People's Court held that the root cause of Ms. Wang's missed flight was that she did not set aside the necessary traffic time during the morning rush hour, and that she could only bear the corresponding legal consequences, so it rejected the appeal and upheld the original judgment.
Explain the law with cases
"The Civil Code stipulates that a contract of carriage is a contract in which the carrier transports passengers or goods from the point of departure to the agreed place, and the passenger, shipper or consignee pays the fare or transportation costs." The presiding judge of this case stated after the trial that according to the principle of relativity of contract, the two parties to the dispute in the transportation contract are only the passenger and the carrier, and the online ride-hailing platform is the information service provider, not the actual carrier. In other words, if a passenger sues for a dispute over the contract of carriage, the carrier will be liable, not the ride-hailing platform.
On the question of whether the carrier should bear the loss of the passenger's no-show, the judge said that the Civil Code stipulates that if one of the parties fails to perform its contractual obligations or the performance of its contractual obligations does not conform to the agreement, it shall bear the liability for breach of contract such as continuing to perform, taking remedial measures or compensating for losses. In this case, if the driver, Master Zhao, had breached the contract such as changing the driving route without permission, failing to arrive at the pick-up location at the agreed time, causing a traffic accident on the way, and deliberately "exercising at a turtle speed", causing Ms. Wang to miss the flight, Ms. Wang should be compensated for her losses.
On the question of how to determine the loss of a passenger who missed the flight, the judge explained that the Civil Code stipulates that if one of the parties fails to perform its contractual obligations or the performance of its contractual obligations does not conform to the agreement, resulting in losses to the other party, the amount of compensation for losses shall be equivalent to the losses caused by the breach of contract, including the benefits that can be obtained after the performance of the contract; provided, however, that it shall not exceed the losses that may be caused by the breach of contract that the breaching party foresaw or should have foreseen at the time of entering into the contract.
"To put it simply, the scope of compensation is the direct loss caused by the breach of contract by one party and the loss of profit that could have been foreseen at the time of entering into the contract." The judge said that in this case, if Master Zhao had breached the contract and caused Ms. Wang to miss her flight, Ms. Wang's change fee or the cost of changing to other means of transportation would be a direct loss and she could be compensated.
If Ms. Wang fails to sign a contract with the customer due to a missed flight, resulting in a loss of millions of yuan, is she entitled to claim compensation from the carrier? "Obviously, this is not a direct loss, and it was also something that the driver could not have foreseen at the time of taking the order, so the carrier cannot be required to compensate for it." The judge said that as passengers, they should make reasonable travel arrangements and reserve sufficient time during traffic congestion to avoid unnecessary losses caused by travel delays. As a taxi driver, you should be loyal to your duties, do your best to deliver passengers to their destinations safely and in a timely manner, fully embody the spirit of professionalism, drivers love their jobs, and passengers are honest and friendly, so as to jointly create a social trend of civilized travel.
Zumiao Micro News Editorial Group
Source: China Legal Popularization Network, Legal Daily, Zumiao Street Judicial Office
Editor: Foshan News Network Wang Minghui
Review: He Jinting, Yang Rongyan, Yang Xiaoting
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