A 57-year-old woman was crushed to death by an elevator in a beauty salon in Dalian.

When Xu Li (a pseudonym), a 57-year-old Dalian woman, went to a beauty and health club near Gorky Road in Shahekou District, she was squeezed under the elevator door by an elevator purchased by the club and died. After the incident, Xu Li's husband and son took the beauty and health club to court for compensation. In December 2020, the Dalian Intermediate People's Court made a final judgment on the case: the beauty salon compensated the family for various losses of more than 900,000 yuan.

Xu Li, 57, lives in Xigang District, Dalian, Liaoning. On May 22, 2020, Xu Li went to work at a beauty and wellness hall in Gorky Road, Shahekou District, and was squeezed to death by the elevator purchased and used by the hall.

Zhang, the operator of the beauty salon, said when questioned by the police after the incident that the beauty salon had not yet opened. This lift was purchased by her from a lifting machinery co., ltd. in jinan, with a specification of S-400-G. Zhang said that there had been one or two failures after the elevator was installed, and the manufacturer sent someone to solve the problem after the telephone repair was reported.

Beauty Guild "body management consultant" Qiao said, Zhang is his "student". "At about 6: 50 on May 22, 2020, Xu Li asked me to meet at a beauty and health club on Gorky Road through WeChat. I chatted. I didn't know when she would come. I was receiving customers at the club. At about 12: 44 noon, I heard someone calling for help in the elevator on the second floor. I ran out to the elevator and found the elevator door open. The elevator was on the first floor. Xu Li was pressing under the elevator. I shouted for help, when I got to my neighbor's house and went down to the first floor of the elevator through a wooden ladder, I saw Xu Li being pressed under the elevator."

Photos from the scene of the incident showed that there was no sinking elevator shaft in the elevator shaft that caused the accident. In the absence of a car, the inner and outer ground levels are consistent, and the inner level is slightly high when there is a car. There is no inner door in the car. The outer door on the first floor is magnetic type access control. There are buttons and display screens beside the door. At the time of the accident, there was no sign prohibiting the use of the lift.

After the tragedy, Xu Li's mother, son and husband believed that the beauty salon should bear the responsibility for compensation. They sued the beauty club to the Shahekou District Court, claiming 816500 yuan for death compensation, 47771 yuan for funeral expenses, 100000 yuan for mental damage, and 2348 yuan for lost work in funeral matters. During the trial, the beauty hall did not provide the product qualification certificate and quality inspection certificate of the lift.

The Shahekou District Court held in the first instance that the defendant, as the manager of the business premises, should confirm that the product quality is qualified when purchasing the elevator, and should ensure the normal operation of the elevator when using the elevator on a daily basis, and have the obligation of management and maintenance. According to the beauty club, the elevator manufacturer involved in the case did not provide it with the product qualification certificate and quality inspection certificate. When it failed to confirm that the quality of the elevator involved in the case was qualified, it used the elevator in the business premises without setting it. Any warning signs are at fault.

In addition, in the case of multiple failures of the elevator involved, the beauty club did not thoroughly overhaul to ensure safe use, nor did it post a prohibited sign, resulting in Xu Li being squeezed to death by the elevator involved in the case that could not operate normally, and there was also a fault. Should bear the corresponding liability. Although the beauty club claimed that it was not the owner of the lift and should not be liable for compensation, the court did not recognize it.

During the trial, the beauty club put forward a number of reasons, arguing that it should not be liable for compensation.

First of all, the beauty club claimed that it had signed a cooperation agreement with another company, which was contracted by the company, and that it was not the manager and organizer of the business premises. However, the court held that the defendant's beauty salon was an individual industrial and commercial household and the operator was Zhang. In the "Cooperation Agreement" provided by it, the two parties to the contract are a Dalian US company and another natural person. The agreement does not have a seal or the signature of the operator, nor does it mention the name of the defendant's beauty salon. In addition, the beauty salon does not provide the industrial and commercial information of the so-called "contractor" and cannot verify the identities of the parties involved in the agreement. The court will not approve.

Second, the beauty club pointed out in the court trial that the deceased Xu Li had a major fault for the accident because of his improper operation of the elevator and his failure to fulfill the duty of attention and observation of ordinary people. In response, the court held that the beauty salon failed to prove that Xu Li had improper operation. Moreover, the duty of observation should be in line with the normal cognition of ordinary people in daily life. First of all, there are operation buttons and magnetic opening and closing doors outside the elevator involved. Under normal circumstances, the entrance guard can only be opened after the occupant presses the external operation button and the car is in place. Therefore, according to the daily judgment of ordinary people, the entrance guard can be opened to indicate that the car is in place. Secondly, the elevator involved has no elevator shaft and the inner and outer ground levels are the same when there is no car. The deceased cannot judge whether the car is in place through the depression on the inner ground, when the elevator involved in the case has a car and no car, the internal ground height changes very little, and the deceased cannot judge whether the car is in place through the internal height difference. Finally, according to the daily judgment of ordinary people, when the entrance guard can be opened, it means that the car is in place. When there is no obvious difference between inside and outside, ordinary people generally enter the inside immediately after opening the door. The court ruled that the deceased was not at fault for the accident and should not be subject to the duty of observation.

Third, the beauty salon said that the deceased Xu Li was trespassing. However, the court held that the beauty salon did not provide evidence to prove its claim, and the lift could still be used and caused the death of Xu Li. The defense was not accepted.

The beauty club also requires additional elevator manufacturers and "consultant" Qiao as the defendant or a third party to share the responsibility. The court held that this case was a tort lawsuit filed by the family of the deceased against the fault of the beauty salon as the manager of the elevator involved in the case. Qiao and the elevator manufacturer are not in the same legal relationship with this case and should not be added as defendants.

The Shahekou District Court ruled in the first instance that the Beauty and Health Club compensated the family members of the deceased for death compensation of 816500 yuan, mental damage compensation of 100000 yuan, funeral expenses of 47771 yuan, and lost work expenses of 2348 yuan for funeral matters, totaling 966619 yuan.

After the verdict of the first instance, the beauty club refused to accept the appeal and demanded that the judgment of the first instance be revoked and the family's claim be rejected. The beauty club said that it had contracted the business place to another company for operation, and should no longer bear the responsibility for the management and maintenance of the accident elevator. When the accident occurred, the manager and organizer of the business place was Qiao, and Qiao should bear the corresponding responsibility. In addition, the beauty salon has been closed at the time of the incident, the deceased for unauthorized intrusion. The deceased did not fulfill his due duty of care when taking the elevator, and did not take the correct self-rescue method after discovering the danger. He was at fault and should bear the main responsibility.

This statement cannot be accepted by the family. They said that the beauty club will not be used for manned and faulty elevators for manned use. This is the root cause of the tragedy. There is obvious fault and it has not fulfilled its due management and maintenance obligations. Full liability for compensation.

Moreover, the deceased had no fault in this accident. According to the daily experience of ordinary people, the opening of the entrance guard outside the elevator indicates that the car is in place, and the elevator involved in the case has no elevator shaft. The deceased cannot judge whether the car is in place. The deceased was squeezed to death by the car in a very short period of time. The duty of care of the deceased should not be demanded.

In November 2020, the Dalian Intermediate People's Court opened a hearing on the case. The court held that although the beauty and health club claimed that the business place had been contracted to others for use, the "cooperation agreement" provided by it did not have the signature of the operator, nor did it provide evidence to hand over the business place involved in the case with the partner.

As for the "unauthorized intrusion", the court found out that Qiao stated in the inquiry record of the public security organ that "I am a consultant in the body management of XXX beauty and health club" and "the deceased is my student in 2019. at about 6: 50 on may 22, 2020, the deceased asked me to meet at a beauty and health club in gorky road through wechat, chatting, and I don't know when she will come, just as I received customers in the beauty and health club," I can be sure that the deceased had an appointment with Qiao to meet in the beauty and health club, not to break in without authorization.

Regarding the statement that "the deceased did not operate properly and did not save himself correctly", the court held that the failure of the elevator was the direct cause of the deceased's death. Under the circumstances that the accident elevator did not have an elevator shaft and its interior was basically equal to the ground when the car did not arrive, the duty of care of the deceased could not be demanded. The beauty club failed to prove that the deceased died for other reasons, which had nothing to do with the extrusion of the elevator, there is also no evidence to prove that the deceased could escape in time without escaping after discovering the danger. He only chose to call for help, missed the opportunity and was obviously at fault. Therefore, it is reasonable to judge the beauty hall to bear all the liability for compensation.

Recently, the final judgment of Dalian Intermediate People's Court rejected the appeal and upheld the original judgment.

Source: Looking at the World in Bincheng

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