In daily life, drinking together is a normal interpersonal behavior and a way for people to express their friendship in social life. Why did my former friend stand in the dock? Recently, the Zhuzhou Court heard a case of death due to drinking.
At noon on May 24, 2023, Liu Mouming organized a dinner at a hotel in Zhuzhou, and invited Yang Mouqiang (deceased), Liu Moulai, Chen Moulin, Chen Mouming, and Tan Mou to come for five people participate. Liu Mouming brought about three kilograms of sorghum wine to the hotel. During the meal, the five people had three rounds of drinking. During the dinner, Chen Moulin did not drink, and there was no behavior between the other participants and Yang Moqiang to persuade him to drink.
After dinner, Liu left first because he had something to do, and the rest of the staff agreed to go to Liu's house to play cards during the free time before going to work in the afternoon. At around 13:30, several people drove to the gate of the community. Liu Mouming said that he had drunk and wanted to sleep in the car, and gave Tan Moulai the key to his home. Chen Moulin, Chen Mouming, and Tan Moulai He and Yang Mouqiang climbed the stairs to Liu Mouming's home to play cards. Just after playing the first hand of cards, Chen Moulin, Chen Mouming and Tan Moulai found that Yang Mouqiang could not hold the cards firmly and asked him if he could continue playing cards. Yang Mouqiang responded in the affirmative. Then, the four people played two more hands of cards. Yang Mouqiang was still holding cards unsteadily, so the four people stopped playing cards. Yang Mouqiang rested on the sofa at Liu Mouming's home, and the other three left after Yang Mouqiang fell asleep. to Liu Mouming’s house. When he got downstairs, Tan knocked on defendant Liu Mouming's car door and threw the keys into the back seat. At about 19:20, Liu Mouming returned home and found Yang Mouqiang still sleeping and snoring on the sofa, so he also lay on another sofa to sleep. At about 20:50, Liu Mingming was awakened by Yang Mouqiang's phone ringing. After receiving the call, Liu Mingming called Yang Mouqiang several times, but Yang Mouqiang did not respond. Liu Mingming touched Yang Mouqiang with his hand. After discovering that Yang Mouqiang was not breathing, he called 120 emergency number and performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation and artificial respiration on Yang Mouqiang. 120 Doctors rushed to the scene and informed Yang Mouqiang that he was dead.
The court held that Yang Mouqiang, as a person with full capacity for civil conduct, should have a sense of self-protection and should understand his physical condition and the risks caused by excessive drinking. However, he drank a lot at the dinner and allowed such risks to be ignored. If an accident occurs, he shall bear the main fault liability for the consequences of his own death. Liu Mouming and Yang Mouqiang drank excessively. As the organizer of the dinner, Liu Mouming failed to fulfill his duty of dissuasion and reminder. During the subsequent card playing process, Liu Mouming did not return home with the participants, nor did he make arrangements A conscious person took care of the drinking people. As a dinner organizer, he failed to fulfill his safety care obligations. Knowing that the deceased Yang Mouqiang had not gone to work in the afternoon and had not eaten dinner, Liu Mingming found Yang Mouqiang lying on his sofa. At the time, no abnormal inspection was made, and as the organizer of the dinner, he failed to fulfill his safety care obligations. Therefore, Liu Mouming should bear certain fault liability for Yang Mouqiang's death. Tan Moulai and Chen Mouming, as co-drinkers, did not remind or dissuade Yang Mouqiang from excessive drinking. After finishing the card playing activities, they did not properly arrange Yang Mouqiang, leaving Yang Mouqiang alone in the defendant Liu Mouming's room. They rested at home and allowed Yang Mouqiang to be in personal danger after drinking a lot of alcohol. They failed to perform a certain degree of safety and care obligations for Yang Mouqiang. Tan Moulai and Chen Mouming should bear part of the fault for the consequences of Yang Mouqiang's death. responsibility. Chen Molin participated in the dinner. He did not drink alcohol during the dinner, did not induce drinking, and did not engage in other inappropriate behaviors. He was not at fault. However, during the subsequent card game, Chen Molin was the only one who had free movement and normal consciousness. A person who, knowingly knowing that Tan Moulai, Chen Mouming, and Yang Mouqiang were drinking, participated in a card game with the drinkers, thus created a special duty of care, and the card game ended Afterwards, Chen Moulin failed to properly arrange Yang Mouqiang, allowed Yang Mouqiang to rest alone in the defendant Liu Mouming's home, and allowed Yang Mouqiang to be in a personal danger state after drinking a lot of alcohol. Safety care obligation, therefore Chen Moulin should bear partial fault liability for Yang Moqiang’s death.Liu came to drink a small amount of alcohol, did not persuade him to drink, and left first, so he was not at fault for Yang Mouqiang's death. The first instance verdict was that Yang Mouqiang should bear 88% of the damage liability, and Liu Mouming, Chen Mouming, Tan Moulai, and Chen Moulin should bear the compensation liability at 7%, 2%, 2%, and 1% respectively.
The judge said:
In daily life, treating friends and relatives to dinner is a normal social activity, but participants should not drink excessively, toast, or persuade others to drink during the meal, and they also have the responsibility to advise, remind, and take care of each other. obligations.
The legitimate behavior of drinking together is a friendship behavior in people's normal interactions and does not fall within the scope of legal adjustment. Only when the interests of one party are harmed during the friendship behavior, the law should provide relief and regulate the behavior. and adjustments. The antecedent act of drinking together creates safety hazards for others, and those who drink with them have a duty of care to protect their neighbors from harm. Therefore, when others are drunk and in a dangerous state, if the drinkers fail to fulfill their due safety obligations, it will be converted into a tort and they should bear corresponding tort liability.
However, for the liability for such tort, the degree of fault of each drinker should be examined and should be within reasonable limits. At the same time, the prerequisite for determining that drinkers will perform their duty of care must be reasonably foreseeable. In this case, when Chen Moulin, Chen Mouming, Tan Moulai, Liu Moulai, Liu Mouming and Yang Mouqiang were drinking together, there was no evidence that the drinkers were persuading each other to drink or fight for drinks. After drinking together, other drinkers left the drinking place on foot with Yang Mouqiang. After arriving at Liu Mouming's house, Yang Mouqiang showed a certain abnormal state of drunkenness in his subsequent behavior, and died at Liu Mouming's residence that night. At this time, although the place where he drank together and the people present were all Certain changes have taken place, but Liu Mouming, Tan Honglai, Chen Mouming, Chen Moulin, etc., as persons present successively, still need to fulfill their responsibilities to Yang Moqiang based on their responsibilities for the previous act of drinking together. Duties of care, previous drinking behavior and subsequent drinking behavior are a whole and should not be treated separately. Therefore, Liu Mouming, Tan Moulai, Chen Mouming, and Chen Moulin had certain faults in their handling of Yang Mouqiang, and they should each bear certain responsibilities.
Xiaoxiang Morning News reporter Zhou Lingru correspondent Jiang Shengqiang
