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no matter what the court decides, the life of the elderly man cannot be saved. this tragedy caused by the supermarket distributing eggs should cause more people to reflect.

text | zhuli

an 84-year-old man fell and died while trying to grab eggs in a supermarket. who should be held responsible? recently, the nanjiang court in sichuan province heard such a dispute case.

last september, a supermarket in bazhong, sichuan province, launched a promotional activity, where the first 100 customers every day could receive 10 eggs for free by presenting a cashier receipt of any amount on that day. many middle-aged and elderly people waited at the supermarket entrance at dawn just to grab the 100 spots. 84-year-old mrs. yang was squeezed down in the queue and eventually died after failed rescue efforts. her family sued the supermarket in court.

in the end, the court decided that the supermarket should bear 30% of the economic losses caused by yang's death, which is 94,975.23 yuan, and 5,000 yuan in mental damages, totaling 99,975.23 yuan. the plaintiffs lin and lin (yang's grandson and granddaughter) were responsible for 70% of the loss, which is 221,608.87 yuan.

after the court's first-instance judgment, both the plaintiff and the defendant were dissatisfied and filed appeals respectively. the second-instance court rejected the appeal and upheld the original judgment, which means that the matter has come to a temporary end. however, no matter what the court's judgment is, the life of the elderly person in question cannot be saved. this tragedy caused by the supermarket distributing eggs should cause more people to reflect.

why should supermarkets and the elderly be held responsible?

the incident occurred on the morning of september 5, 2023. plaintiffs lin and lin's grandmother yang went to a shopping supermarket in nanjiang county to line up to participate in the supermarket's "10 eggs for free for the first 100 customers every day with a cashier receipt of any amount on that day". because it was not the supermarket's opening time (8 a.m.), yang and dozens of other customers spontaneously lined up outside the supermarket waiting for the supermarket to open.

at 7:11, when some supermarket staff were preparing to open the door for business, a crowd jam occurred. yang was pushed back by the crowd in front of him and fell on his back, causing head injuries. after emergency treatment at the hospital, he was declared clinically dead on the 10th of the same month, resulting in various economic losses totaling 316,584.1 yuan. later, the two parties could not reach an agreement on compensation liability, and the elderly family sued the nanjiang court.

the person in charge of the supermarket said that the old man's injury was purely accidental. the accident happened before the opening of the store and in a public place outside. it was the uncivilized behavior of some individuals that caused the crowding and the accident. yang moumou himself is old and prone to falling, and he should not have participated in such an event. the supermarket has no responsibility at all and gave yang moumou's family 20,000 yuan in the name of a loan.

the nanjiang court held that although the victim yang moumou queued outside the supermarket and before the supermarket opened, the purpose of the people queuing outside the supermarket was to participate in the rush to buy organized by the supermarket due to the geographical location of the supermarket. moreover, queuing before the opening hours was also because the promotion organized by the supermarket was limited to the first 100 consumers to enjoy shopping discounts.

therefore, the location and time where the victim yang moumou queued were in line with common sense, and the defendant shopping supermarket should have anticipated the occurrence of such a situation and fulfilled its security obligations within reasonable limits.

the supermarket failed to fulfill its safety guarantee obligations within reasonable limits and should bear certain responsibilities; however, yang and his family failed to fulfill their safety precautions and should bear greater responsibilities. the court finally ruled that yang should bear 70% of the responsibility, and the supermarket should bear 30% of the compensation and 5,000 yuan in mental damages, totaling nearly 100,000 yuan.

after the first instance judgment, both parties appealed. as for why the supermarket and the elderly should bear responsibility, the lawyer explained.

lawyer mao haining from beijing dongwei (nanjing) law firm believes that, first of all, as a person with full civil capacity, the elderly should have a clear understanding of their own physical condition; at the same time, when there are a large number of people queuing on site, they should have a certain sense of self-protection and take certain measures.

in this case, yang should have foreseen the possible dangers of participating in the rush to buy in a crowded queue, but he failed to fulfill his duty of safety and was at fault. everyone should be the first person responsible for their own safety, so the court in this case determined that the elderly person was primarily responsible.

secondly, this case was caused by a promotional activity of the supermarket. there is nothing wrong with the promotional activity itself. it is a normal business behavior of the supermarket. however, for the supermarket, any business behavior should be based on the protection of consumers' rights and interests, especially the right to life and health.

although the location and time involved in this case were not in the supermarket's business premises and during normal business hours, the elderly queuing had a direct causal relationship with the supermarket's promotional activities, and even directly led to the crowds in the queue. the supermarket obviously had no plan for the crowds in the queue, nor any security measures. therefore, the court determined that the supermarket should bear secondary responsibility for the death of the elderly.

the elderly should not be greedy for small gains and suffer big losses

the author believes that it is not uncommon for supermarkets to attract customers by giving out eggs for free or selling eggs at prices far below the market price. the main reasons are, on the one hand, to attract consumers to the supermarket and drive sales of other products while they are buying eggs; on the other hand, to increase the popularity of the supermarket and create a prosperous business atmosphere, thus playing a positive role in sales.

the majority of people who come to get free eggs are elderly people. many elderly people would rather wait in line for a long time to get free eggs. however, the supermarket's free eggs cannot be supplied in unlimited quantities. they are usually distributed on a first-come, first-served basis, and those who line up later may not get any eggs.

this explains why, as soon as the supermarket opens, people queuing for eggs rush in, running as fast as they can, trying to be the first 100 to get eggs. however, the potential risks behind this have been ignored intentionally or unintentionally by many people. a bunch of people crowded together, and after running for a while, they crowded together again, which can easily cause a stampede.

especially for the elderly who are not so flexible, it is easy to fall. the 80-year-old man in the above news died because he was trampled while receiving free eggs.

in june this year, the jiangnan district people's court of nanning city concluded a dispute in which an elderly man fell and was injured after receiving eggs as a gift when buying medicine. the court ruled that the elderly man was primarily responsible and the pharmacy was secondarily responsible.

one day at the end of november 2022, a drugstore in jiangnan district, nanning city, opened and launched a customer reward activity. as long as you buy medicine, you will receive free eggs, etc., which attracted many elderly people to enter the store. 78-year-old mrs. li also entered the store to buy medicine. after receiving a bag of eggs, she stepped on empty air, fell on a step in the drugstore, and hit the cabinet next to her. the hospital diagnosed that mrs. li had a comminuted fracture of the right femur, a fracture of the right clavicle, and multiple fractures of the right ribs.

after recovering from her illness, mrs. li sued the pharmacy in the jiangnan district court of nanning city, claiming a total of more than 96,000 yuan in medical expenses and nursing fees. based on the degree of fault of both parties, the court held that the responsibility was 20% and ruled that the pharmacy should bear 20% of the responsibility and compensate mrs. li more than 17,900 yuan.

similar incidents have also triggered extensive discussions on the protection of the rights of the elderly. at present, as the aging of society continues to deepen, the quality of life and safety of the elderly are increasingly receiving attention. many netizens said that supermarkets and other public places should pay more attention to the special needs and safety of the elderly and formulate more complete safety measures and emergency plans.

the author believes that when it comes to participating in activities, the elderly should do so according to their own conditions, and should also view the promotional activities of merchants dialectically, and must not be greedy for small profits and suffer big losses, and should not join in the fun that should not be joined. compensation and liability are small matters, but it is really not worth paying the price of life for ten eggs.