Man died after drunk driving at a family dinner, friend sentenced to 10% responsibility for incomplete dissuasion

  Court: The infringed person has a history of drunk driving and should be held responsible

  Mr. Guo from Guangyuan City, Sichuan Province, invited his friend Mr. Li to eat at home, and the two drank together.

After the meal, Mr. Li drove his son away. Mr. Guo tried to dissuade him but did not take effective measures to stop him.

After Mr. Li drove away, the vehicle drove out of the road and collided with the street light on the right side of the road, causing Mr. Li's death on the spot. It was identified that Mr. Li was drunk driving.

  After the incident, Mr. Li's family filed a lawsuit against Mr. Guo and others who were eating at the same table to the court, demanding to bear 60% of the liability and claim more than 600,000 yuan.

On June 6, the Chengdu Commercial Daily-Red Star News reporter learned from the Lizhou District Court of Guangyuan City that recently, the court made a ruling that Mr. Guo, as the organizer of the meal and the provider of drinks, knew that Mr. Li would drive away after drinking. The persuasion was conducted, but the persuasion was not thorough, so there was a fault, and he was liable for 10% of the compensation, and the total compensation was 9,9968.4 yuan.

The other two people who ate at the same table did not drink or persuade them, and they are not liable for compensation.

  After going to a friend’s house dinner

  Drunk driving accident died, 9-year-old son in the same car survived

  At about 18:00 on August 19, 2020, Mr. Li drove his 9-year-old son to Mr. Guo's house and was invited to eat at his home. At the same table, Mr. Guo's brother-in-law and other two others were also on the table.

During the meal, Mr. Li drank liquor, Mr. Guo drank beer, and none of the others drank alcohol.

  At about 21:20 that day, Mr. Li drove a car after drinking and took his 9-year-old son, and drove along the 108 National Highway from Jiange to the direction of Guangyuan City.

Driving to 108 National Highway 1909 kilometers and 550 meters away, the vehicle drove out of the road and collided with the street light on the right side of the road, causing the death of the person involved, Mr. Li, and the vehicle in a traffic accident.

Fortunately, Mr. Li's son is not serious.

  According to the identification of the Material Evidence Appraisal Office of Guangyuan Public Security Bureau, Mr. Li's heart and blood sampling detected ethanol, and the content was 227.8mg/100ml.

On September 11, 2020, the Traffic Police Detachment of Guangyuan City Public Security Bureau issued the "Road Traffic Accident Recognition", which determined that Mr. Li was still drunk and drove under the circumstances that his motor vehicle driver’s license had an illegal score of 12 points. A motor vehicle that has undergone safety technical inspections within the prescribed time limit drove to the location of the accident. During the driving process, improper operation resulted in a traffic accident. Its behavior violated the relevant provisions of the Road Traffic Safety Law of the People’s Republic of China. The occurrence is causal.

The party concerned, Mr. Li, should bear full responsibility for the traffic accident.

  Mr. Li’s family members said that after returning from a trip to the stone processing factory he opened, Mr. Li drove his son home for dinner at 18:00 on the same day, and was called to stay by Mr. Guo when he passed by Mr. Guo’s house to keep Mr. Li. After eating and drinking, Mr. Li said he would not drink and wanted to go home for dinner. But Mr. Guo kept staying. Mr. Li was very kind, and he had to get out of the car and take his son to eat and drink at his home.

After eating, Mr. Li wanted to go home, but Mr. Guo and others knew that Mr. Li was going to drive, but they did not do their best to dissuade and did not perform their duties of taking care, guarding, escorting or notifying his wife in time. Mr. Li was drunk He still allowed him to drive away, eventually leading to Mr. Li's death in a car accident.

  Friend was sentenced to nearly 100,000 in compensation

  The organizer of the dinner is not effective enough to dissuade, take responsibility for 10%

  Those who attended the banquet have a history of drunk driving and assume the main responsibility

  After the incident, Mr. Guo paid 50,000 yuan to Mr. Li’s family, but the two parties could not reach an agreement on compensation.

In January 2021, Mr. Li's family filed a lawsuit in the court, requesting that Mr. Guo and others be held responsible for 60% and compensate more than 600,000 yuan.

  However, during the court trial, Mr. Guo argued that at that time, everyone went home after traveling and chatted in the group. Mr. Li said that he was at the door of his house, so out of courtesy, he asked Mr. Li to eat at home.

At dinner, only he and Mr. Li were drinking.

After the meal, he persuaded Mr. Li not to leave, and got Mr. Li's car key, but did not persuade him.

When Mr. Li left, he had a clear consciousness and behaved normally. There was no need for nursing or rushing to the hospital for severely drunk persons who could not walk.

At the same time, Mr. Guo said that as an organization of the dinner, he should bear humanitarian responsibility, and his compensation of 50,000 yuan will not be pursued.

  After the trial, the court held that as a person with full civil capacity, Mr. Li had a record of administrative punishment for driving a motor vehicle after drinking alcohol without knowing to repent, knowing that the relevant laws and regulations prohibit drink-driving, and he still drunk even if he was discouraged by others. Driving a motor vehicle on the road behind is a major fault, so Mr. Li should bear the main responsibility for the damage.

  As the organizer of the dinner and the provider of drinks, Mr. Guo knew that Mr. Li was going to drive away after drinking together with Mr. Li. Although he discouraged Mr. Li from driving while drunk, the dissuasion was not thorough. In the end, he did not take effective measures. The measures caused by traffic accidents resulted in the death of Mr. Li, and his joint drinking behavior was causally related to Mr. Li’s death. Therefore, Mr. Guo was at fault for this and should be liable for compensation.

According to the principle of handling that the infringer’s liability can be reduced if the infringee is at fault for the damage, combining the various factors that led to the damage and the degree of fault, it is determined that Mr. Guo shall be liable for 10% of the compensation for Mr. Li’s death due to drunk driving.

At the same time, the other two people who were eating at the same table did not drink or persuade them, and they were not liable for compensation.

  Recently, the court made a judgment that Mr. Guo shall bear 10% of the compensation liability, a total of 9,9968.4 yuan in compensation, and 50,000 yuan paid in advance will be deducted.

Zhu Yanhong

  Chengdu Commercial Daily-Red Star News Correspondent Tang Xiaojun