how to define the behavior of the elderly and the property management in the case of "the elderly defecated in the elevator and was exposed by the property management"? multiple lawyers explain
2024-09-22
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recently, a piece of news about an elderly man who committed suicide after being exposed for defecating in an elevator has attracted attention. according to media reports, on august 25, a 70-year-old man in a residential area in wuhan squatted down to defecate with his back to the surveillance camera because he could not bear the urge to defecate. he tried to catch the excrement with a plastic bag he carried with him, but some of it was still missed. after the incident, the property staff released the surveillance video to the community owner group without processing it. the elderly man's face and behavior can be clearly seen in the video.
▲screenshot of the video reported by the media, from the internet
the old man's son, mr. zhou, said in an interview that on september 5, the old man ran away from home alone. four days later, his family found that the old man had unfortunately passed away. the police determined that the old man committed suicide after investigation. mr. zhou said that his father did not defecate in the elevator intentionally, and the property management posted an uncensored video in the owner group to humiliate his father, which led to his father committing suicide. he asked the property management to issue relevant certificates to prove that the old man did not defecate in the elevator intentionally, but the property management has not responded.
after the report was released, it attracted widespread attention and discussion. red star news noted that some netizens expressed sympathy for the old man's experience, believing that the property management's actions seriously violated the old man's privacy and were too indifferent. some netizens also pointed out that the uncivilized behavior of the elderly in public places should not be ignored, and the property management, as the management party, has the responsibility to maintain the community environment.
so, from a legal perspective, how should the behavior of the elderly and the property management company in this incident be defined? on september 21, a red star news reporter interviewed several professional lawyers for their interpretation.
wang jiangkui, a lawyer at beijing zeheng law firm, said that in this case, if the elderly man was unable to control his urgency due to physical reasons and eventually defecated in the elevator due to force majeure, it would be a consequence caused by non-subjective reasons and is understandable, and there is no subjective fault.
as for the property's exposure of the unprocessed surveillance video, lawyer wang jiangkui pointed out that according to the relevant provisions of the civil code of the people's republic of china, the property's move constitutes an infringement on the elderly's reputation and privacy. "while performing community management duties, the property has an obligation to protect the personal privacy and information security of the owners. in this case, the property's exposure of the elderly's personal information is seriously inappropriate."
so, did the property management company’s behavior directly lead to the old man’s death? lawyer wang jiangkui believes that the property management company’s improper handling and failure to protect the old man’s key information constitutes a defamation. however, the property management company’s defamation behavior does not necessarily lead to the old man’s suicide, so there is no necessary causal relationship between the property management company’s exposure of the old man’s indecent behavior and the old man’s suicide.
similarly, zhao liangshan, a lawyer at shaanxi hengda law firm, also believes that the old man committed suicide, ruling out homicide. in judicial practice, only instigating suicide or assisting suicide constitutes a crime. "the so-called 'instigating suicide' refers to persuading, luring, ordering, coercing, etc. to make a person who has no suicidal intention decide to commit suicide and carry out the act; while the so-called 'assisting suicide' generally requires providing suicide facilities or assisting in suicide."
lawyer zhao liangshan told reporters that in this case, perhaps the property's exposure behavior stimulated the elderly's sensitive nerves, causing the elderly to be unable to bear the humiliation and prompting the elderly to commit suicide, but these did not constitute a causal relationship with the elderly's suicide in the sense of criminal law, so the property manager did not commit a crime.
▲screenshot of the video reported by the media, from the internet
by searching for keywords, red star news found that in recent years, there have been many incidents in which property management publicly exposed the uncivilized behavior of owners. in may 2023, wu, an owner of a community in chongqing, took his daughter to throw away garbage without following regulations and was recorded by surveillance. the property management then published the uncensored video in the owner group. wu sued the property management for infringement of his reputation rights, but was ultimately rejected by the court; in june 2024, li, a resident of a community in tianshui city, urinated in the elevator and was caught on surveillance video. the community property management then sent the video to the community owners' wechat group and condemned his behavior. li believed that this had violated his reputation rights and took the property management to court. however, the court held that the property management's move was out of public interest considerations and promoted a good atmosphere. it was not defamatory or insulting in nature and did not meet the elements of illegality.
in response to such situations, lawyer wang jiangkui said that the property management company should make the surveillance video public when permitted by law, and ensure that the video is processed as necessary to protect the legal rights of the owners from being violated. on the other hand, lawyer tan mintao of beijing zhongwen (xi'an) law firm also emphasized that although the elderly's defecation in the elevator is out of physiological necessity, it does violate social morality and the use regulations of public places. if the elderly do not take the initiative to clean up after defecation, it is an uncivilized and immoral behavior. the property management company has the right to require the elderly or their family members to clean up, or bear the cost of cleaning.
red star news reporter luo mengjie and intern cheng linxin
editor yang ran responsible editor deng qiguang
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