An old man surnamed Yao from Pingtung County tripped over a floor tile and died on a walking trail around the city. His children were confirmed to be compensated 3.845757 yuan.

An old man surnamed Yao from Pingtung County accidentally tripped over a protruding floor tile while walking along the city-ring trail in Hengchun Town. He was pronounced dead after being sent to the hospital for emergency treatment. Yao's three children claimed compensation from the state. The Pingtung District Court of First Instance held that the Hengchun Town Office should be responsible for maintenance and that there was a causal relationship between Yao Weng's death and the protruding floor tiles, and awarded a compensation of 3,845,757 yuan. The Hengchun Town Office filed two appeals in succession, but they were rejected by the Kaohsiung Branch of the High Court and the Supreme Court. The whole case is confirmed.

The verdict pointed out that the old man surnamed Yao tripped over a protruding floor tile while walking along the city-ring trail in Hengchun Town, Pingtung County on the afternoon of May 29, 2022. After being sent to the hospital for emergency treatment, he died of neurological shock due to a high cervical vertebra fracture on June 8.

Please read on...

Yao Weng's three children believed that Yao Weng's death was due to the fact that the Hengchun Town Office, as the management agency of the trail, failed to fulfill its management and maintenance responsibilities and did not set up warning signs at the site. Therefore, they filed a state compensation lawsuit seeking compensation for Yao Weng's medical expenses, funeral expenses, and spiritual comfort payments totaling 1.281919 yuan.

The Hengchun Town Office maintains that the city-ring trail is an ancillary facility of a cultural monument. The land transcript records that the administrator is the Pingtung County Government, and the county government should also be responsible for management and maintenance. It believes that the images submitted by the family cannot prove that Yao Weng's fall was caused by the protruding floor tiles on the trail. It also denies that there is a causal relationship between Yao Weng's death and the protruding floor tiles.

The Pingtung District Court determined in the first instance that the Hengchun Town Office is the management unit of the trail and has the responsibility for maintenance. According to the photos of the incident, there were protrusions from the floor tiles where Yao Weng's shoes were placed. Since the Hengchun Town Office should have repaired or set up warning signs for the protrusions in the floor tiles, it was determined that there was a causal relationship between Yao Weng's death and the protrusions from the floor tiles. The three children were sentenced to 1.281919 yuan each, for a total of 3.845757 yuan.

The Hengchun Town Office appealed, and the Kaohsiung High Court held that the original judgment was not erroneous, so it rejected the appeal. The case was further appealed to the third instance, but was rejected by the Supreme Court, and the entire case was confirmed.