Case Introduction

       On the noon of December 19, 2021, Aunt Zhang, who came to Beijing to visit relatives, went downstairs to buy things in her daughter's rented community. After leaving the unit building, she walked along the public road outside the building. There was a puddle of water on the road, forming a layer of ice. Aunt Zhang accidentally stepped on the accumulated water and fell, causing her right foot to be injured and swollen.

        After falling, Aunt Zhang immediately took photos of water turning into ice on the road surface and photos of herself injured. At the same time, Aunt Zhang contacted the property management company by phone and was present, explaining her condition of falling and injury. With the assistance of the property management company, she went to the hospital for treatment. After diagnosis, Aunt Zhang suffered a fracture in her right ankle bone. In the afternoon of that day, Aunt Zhang sent a photo of herself seeking medical treatment via WeChat to the property management staff and asked how to solve it. The property management staff replied, "How to solve it?".

      However, in the subsequent negotiations, the property management company changed its previous attitude and believed that it should not be held responsible. Despite multiple unsuccessful communications, Aunt Zhang sued the property management company to the Dongcheng District People's Court in Beijing, demanding compensation for related losses.

      The plaintiff, Aunt Zhang, believes that although it is unclear what caused the road surface water and who caused it, the property management company, as the manager of public places, has management responsibility for public roads. However, in the case of accumulated water and ice on the road surface, the property management company did not take any cleaning, protection, and warning measures and should bear responsibility for this.

       The defendant's property management company stated that the water accumulation on the road was caused by other residents cleaning the air conditioning units in the community, resulting in the accumulation of water on the road surface. The property management company is not at fault for this. At the time of the incident, there was no official property in the community, and the company was a temporarily selected emergency property service personnel. Cleaning roads was not within the agreed service scope. In addition, Aunt Zhang did not fulfill her general duty of care during walking and was at fault for her fall. She should bear full responsibility on her own.

Court Trial

       Judge Li Guoping introduced that this case involves the issue of responsibility when the roles of property service providers and public place managers overlap. From the perspective of the role of public place managers, the Civil Code clearly stipulates that public place managers have the obligation to ensure safety. In practice, a comprehensive consideration is generally given to factors such as whether the security obligor regularly inspects site risks, whether corresponding warning mechanisms are established, and whether emergency rescue systems are in place. In this case, the property management company, as the manager of the public area of the community road, failed to clean up the water on the road area for a long time and did not fulfill its safety protection obligations, and should bear corresponding responsibilities for this.

       From the perspective of the role of property service providers, whether it is a formal property selected through legal procedures or an emergency property in the transitional stage, it should be based on the rights and obligations determined in the property contract, properly maintain, clean, green, and manage the common parts of the property service area according to the agreement, maintain the basic order in the property service area, and take reasonable measures to protect the personal and property safety of the owners. From this perspective, safety hazards such as road surface water in the community should be detected, removed, and reminded as soon as possible, and obligations should be fulfilled.

Judge's reminder

      The judge reminds that every person with full capacity for civil conduct is the first person responsible for their own safety. Residents of residential areas also have the obligation to pay attention to their own safety. They should be cautious and avoid injuries caused by their own negligence when dealing with potential hazards that may cause personal injury. If one is at fault, it may reduce or even exempt the liability of the security obligor for compensation. In addition, the judge also suggested that in the event of a damage accident, one can learn from Aunt Zhang's approach, handle it calmly, communicate rationally, retain evidence in a timely manner, and if necessary, protect legal rights and interests through legal means.

      This article is transferred from "Beijing Dongcheng Court" WeChat official account.