Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in Hearing Cases of Compensation for Personal Injury

Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in Hearing Cases of Compensation for Personal Injury

Fa Shi [2003] No. 20

December 26, 2003

Adopted at the 1299th meeting of the Judicial Committee of the Supreme People's Court on December 4, 2003.

In order to correctly try cases on compensation for personal injury and lawfully protect the legitimate rights and interests of the parties, we hereby give our interpretation as follows regarding relevant issues concerning the application of law in accordance with the General Principles of Civil Law of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the General Principles of Civil Law), the Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the Civil Procedure Law) and other relevant laws:
　
Article 1 Where an obligee to compensation brings a lawsuit, due to an injury to his life, health or body, claiming compensation for property losses or mental injuries against the obligor to compensation, the people's court shall accept the lawsuit.
The "obligee to compensation" mentioned in the present Article means a victim who directly suffers from personal injury due to a tort or any other cause of injury, a person in need of maintenance and upbringing to which the victim is obligated in accordance with law, and the immediate family of the deceased victim.
The "obligor to compensation" mentioned in the present Article means a natural person, legal person or other organization that shall bear civil liabilities in accordance with the law for his or her or any other people's tort or any other cause of injury.
　
Article 2 Where a victim has any intent or negligence for the occurrence or amplification of the same injury, the liabilities of the obligor to compensation may be mitigated or exempted in accordance with Article 131 of the General Principles of Civil Law. However, if the tortfeasor causes injury to another person by intent or gross negligence, while the victim has only general negligence, the liabilities of the obligor to compensation shall not be mitigated.
If, when paragraph 3 of Article 106 of the General Principles of Civil Law is applied to determine the liabilities of an obligor to compensation, the victim is found to have any gross negligence, the liabilities of the obligor to compensation may be mitigated.
　
Article 3 Where two or more persons cause an injury to others by joint intent or joint negligence, or their injurious acts are directly combined to result in the same injury consequence even if they have no joint intent or joint negligence, a joint tort shall be constituted, and the tortfeasors shall bear joint liabilities in accordance with Article 130 of the General Principles of Civil Law.
Where two or more persons have no joint intent or joint negligence, but separately commit several acts that are indirectly combined to result in the same injury consequence, they shall bear corresponding compensation liabilities respectively in appropriate proportions upon the extent of their faults or the reasons of such injury.
　
Article 4 Where two or more persons jointly commit any act endangering the personal safety of any other person and result in any injury, if the actual injuring person is unable to be determined, they shall bear joint liabilities in accordance with Article 130 of the General Principles of Civil Law. Where anyone who is suspected to have caused the joint danger can prove that the injury consequence is not caused by his act, he shall bear no compensation liabilities.
　
Article 5 Where an obligee to compensation brings a lawsuit against some of the joint tortfeasors, the people's court shall add other joint tortfeasors as joint defendants. Where the obligee to compensation abandons his litigation claims against some of the joint tortfeasors in the process of litigation, other joint tortfeasors shall not bear joint liabilities for the share of compensation that ought to be borne by the defendants for whom the litigation claims were abandoned. If the scope of liabilities is difficult to be determined, all the joint tortfeasors shall be putatively deemed to bear equal liabilities.
The people's court shall inform the obligee to compensation of the legal consequence of his abandonment of the litigation claims, and shall state such abandonment in the legal documents.
　
Article 6 Where a natural person, legal person or any other organization who engages in the business of hotel, catering or entertainment, etc.
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