From a Civil and Commercial Perspective: If an employee of an employer causes harm to others while performing work duties, the employer shall bear tort liability.
Published:
2026-02-04
The plaintiff is a student at a vocational secondary specialized school. While attending school, he was slapped twice by a certain individual, Zhang San, a classmate not involved in the case. The plaintiff believes that this act caused him harm and therefore filed a lawsuit against the school and the individual, seeking compensation. The defendant, the individual in question, has retained our firm’s lawyers to represent him in this case.
Case Summary
The plaintiff is a student at a vocational secondary specialized school. While attending school, he was slapped twice by a certain individual, Zhang San, an unrelated classmate, following a dispute between them. Believing that the defendant had caused him harm, the plaintiff filed a lawsuit against both the school and the defendant, seeking compensation. The defendant, the said individual, has retained our firm’s lawyers to represent him in this case.
Court Ruling Perspective
This case is a dispute over the right to health. According to Article 1179 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China, a person who, through negligence, infringes upon the civil rights and interests of others shall bear tort liability. If such infringement causes personal injury to another, the perpetrator shall compensate for reasonable expenses incurred for medical treatment and rehabilitation, including medical fees, nursing fees, transportation costs, and any loss of income due to missed work. Article 1200 stipulates that if a person with limited civil capacity suffers personal injury while studying or living at a school or other educational institution, and the school or other educational institution has failed to fulfill its duty of education and management, it shall bear tort liability. Article 1191 provides that if an employee of an employer causes damage to others while performing work tasks, the employer shall bear tort liability. After assuming tort liability, the employer may seek reimbursement from the employee who acted with intent or gross negligence. Mr./Ms. [Name] engaged in a dispute with the plaintiff and the plaintiff’s classmate, Zhang San, an unrelated third party, and his/her repeated slapping of the plaintiff exceeded the bounds of acceptable behavior. Educational discipline Within the scope of liability, the defendant should bear responsibility for the plaintiff’s injuries. As a teacher at a certain vocational technical school, the defendant’s injury was caused in the course of performing his official duties; therefore, the compensation liability in this case should be borne by the vocational technical school. Taking into account both the nature of the tort and the resulting damages, this court rules that the vocational technical school should bear 70% of the compensation liability.
Referee Rule Analysis
The plaintiff and the third party, Zhang San, were both students at a vocational school, and Mr. [Name] was their class teacher. According to the Administrative Penalty Decision issued by the No. [X] Branch of the Public Security Bureau of [City Name], at around 7:00 p.m. on [Date], the plaintiff and the third party, Zhang San, got into a dispute. Upon receiving this information, the plaintiff’s class teacher, Mr. [Name], confiscated the mobile phones of both the plaintiff and Zhang San. At approximately 10:30 p.m. that same day, Mr. [Name] summoned the plaintiff and Zhang San to his dorm room. During this meeting, Mr. [Name] claimed that the plaintiff had displayed a bad attitude and then slapped the plaintiff in the face. Later, after learning that the plaintiff had previously bullied Zhang San, Mr. [Name] slapped the plaintiff again. Mr. [Name]’s actions went beyond the scope of educational discipline and should be considered as assault against another person. On [Date], the No. [X] Branch of the Public Security Bureau of [City Name] issued Administrative Penalty Decision No. X Gong (X) Xing Fa Jue Zi [2024] X, finding that Mr. [Name] had assaulted another person and imposing an administrative penalty of seven days’ administrative detention and a fine of 200 yuan on Mr. [Name]. At the plaintiff’s request, this court legally commissioned an appraisal agency to assess the plaintiff’s mental state and the causal relationship between the incident and the plaintiff’s condition. The Judicial Appraisal Institute issued an appraisal opinion stating that: Post-traumatic stress disorder The mental disorder currently suffered by the plaintiff is causally related to the assault he or she endured. The defendant, [Name], submitted screenshots from the official website and an enterprise analysis report, arguing that the forensic appraisal institution is the same entity as the plaintiff’s treating medical facility and should therefore recuse itself; thus, the appraisal opinion should not be recognized.
Further Reading
Article 170 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China stipulates that civil legal acts performed by personnel carrying out tasks assigned to a legal person or an unincorporated organization, within the scope of their official authority and in the name of the legal person or unincorporated organization, shall be binding on the legal person or unincorporated organization.
Restrictions imposed by a legal entity or an unincorporated organization on the scope of authority of personnel performing their assigned tasks shall not be enforceable against third parties. Good-faith third party However, how can we determine whether a person’s conduct constitutes official duty-related behavior? Because the legal provisions are overly abstract, there is a lack of specific criteria for determining what exactly qualifies as an employee’s official duty-related conduct, leading to inconsistent standards in judicial practice.
In the first lawsuit filed by the plaintiff in this case, a request was made for an assessment of the causal relationship. The court subsequently commissioned two different forensic institutions to conduct such an assessment. After reviewing the relevant materials, both institutions concluded on the causal relationship. Return the appraisal The reason given was that “the person being assessed, XXX, is a teenager. There are significant differences between adolescents and adults in terms of mental state, symptom presentation, duration of symptoms, family influences, and developmental factors. Therefore, our center is unable to reach a definitive assessment conclusion.” Subsequently, the plaintiff withdrew the original lawsuit and filed this new lawsuit. In this case, the plaintiff requested an assessment of both the individual’s mental state and the causal relationship between that state and the incident. The court, in accordance with the law, commissioned a certain forensic appraisal institute to conduct the assessment of the plaintiff’s mental state and the causal link. The forensic appraisal institute issued an opinion stating that the plaintiff suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, and that the current mental disorder is causally related to the assault he or she endured. Meanwhile, [Name] submitted screenshots of the official websites of the appraisal institution and medical institutions, as well as corporate analysis reports, arguing that the appraisal institution and the plaintiff’s treating hospital are actually the same entity, and thus rejecting the appraisal opinion. [Name] also provided screenshots of WeChat chat records between himself/herself and the issuer of the nursing fee invoices submitted by the plaintiff, thereby disputing the plaintiff’s claim for nursing expenses. In my view, after comprehensively considering the above-mentioned facts, the court determined that, regarding the school’s liability, [Name], as the class teacher, was acting within the scope of his/her official duties when handling the student dispute. However, the school failed to fulfill its obligation to effectively supervise and regulate teachers’ professional conduct. At the same time, the court also took into account the plaintiff’s own inappropriate attitude during the dispute resolution process, finding that the plaintiff bore some minor fault for the escalation of the conflict. Consequently, the court appropriately reduced the school’s proportion of liability. As for the plaintiff’s claims for medical expenses, nursing fees, and compensation for emotional distress, this court will, based on valid receipts and the extent of the damages, support these claims within the 70% liability limit.
In judicial practice, when it comes to the allocation and determination of liability for official acts, consideration should be given to whether the benefits derived from the actions of personnel belong to a legal person or an unincorporated organization. According to basic legal principles, this principle also aligns with the principles of fairness and justice. Therefore, since the benefits from the actions of personnel accrue to the legal person or unincorporated organization, it is that entity which should bear the responsibility. This standard is clearly fair and equitable for such entities. Article 1191 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China stipulates that if an employee of an employer causes damage to others while performing work tasks, the employer shall bear tort liability. Article 17 of the "Interpretation (I) of the Supreme People's Court on the Application of the Tort Liability Section of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China" further clarifies: If an employee commits an unlawful act while performing work tasks, causing damage to others, and such act constitutes a criminal offense under the law, the employee shall bear criminal responsibility, without prejudice to the employer’s obligation to assume civil liability in accordance with the law.
(Disclaimer: This article reflects the author’s views based on personal experience and is intended for exchange and discussion only.)
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