After the man bought the health care products, he claimed ten times of compensation. The court ruled that only the payment for goods would be returned

Tianshan.com - Xinjiang Legal Daily reporter Gong Yanchen Correspondent Wang Juan

After a man in Urumqi bought 460 yuan worth of health products in a health care store, he found that "no such drug was found", and then took the health care store to court in the name of selling counterfeit and substandard drugs and demanded ten times compensation. After trial, the court rejected its claim for ten times of compensation. What happened?

In the middle of April this year, Jiang bought one box of ginseng antler and deer whip pills and five bags of health products at a health product store in Tianshan District, Urumqi (hereinafter referred to as the "health product store"), and paid 460 yuan in total. Jiang said that after returning home for use, he suffered from dizziness, vomiting and discomfort. He checked the website of the State Drug Administration and found that the drug manufacturer, approval number, executive standard and other information could not be found. Jiang believed that the health care product store failed to fulfill the relevant obligations of the operator and sold counterfeit and inferior health care products in the store. In June, Jiang appealed to the People's Court of Tianshan District, Urumqi, for the health food store to return the payment and bear ten times the amount of compensation.

The defendant's health care product store said that after selling the medicine, it never received the phone call from the plaintiff Jiang asking for a refund. The store had the corresponding health care product business qualification, and all the products sold were purchased from the formal online sales platform, which did not violate the law. The defendant said that Jiang purchased the product involved in the case with a purpose to make a profit. He made videos during the purchase of the product, which is different from the behavior of ordinary consumers, and is a professional dummy.

After hearing the case, the court held that the purchase and use of goods for the purpose of living consumption is the premise to define the identity of consumers. In general, consumers will choose to communicate with merchants in time and safeguard their rights after purchasing a product for life consumption purposes and causing discomfort, rather than continue to purchase in large quantities. Through pre court investigation, the court found that, except for this case, the plaintiff, Jiang Mou, sued two health care stores in Changji City to the Changji People's Court for the same reason in June this year, both of them demanded to refund the payment for goods and compensate ten times the price.

The court held that the plaintiff Jiang went to different health care stores to buy a large number of health care products at the same time, and sued for ten times punitive damages for discomfort after taking them. It can be confirmed that the plaintiff Jiang did not simply and accidentally "know the fake and buy the fake", but bought the products involved in the case for the purpose of claiming profits, which is a disguised business behavior, Therefore, the plaintiff Jiang does not have a qualified consumer identity in this case.

The plaintiff Jiang claimed that after receiving the product, he began to experience physical discomfort such as retching and vomiting, but he failed to submit corresponding evidence to support what kind of product caused his symptoms. In addition, Jiang refused to identify the ingredients of the product involved in the case and the causal relationship between taking the product involved in the case and physical discomfort, and did not seek medical advice after claiming physical discomfort. Therefore, the court did not recognize the plaintiff's claim that the product involved in the case caused damage to it.

The defendant, as a business operator, failed to perform the relevant inspection obligations and sold health products that did not meet the food safety standards, which constituted an act of knowingly operating food that did not meet the food safety standards, and should bear the corresponding responsibility according to law. The plaintiff formed a sales contract relationship with the defendant, who chose to sue the operator to assume responsibility because the store operated food that did not meet the food safety standards, in line with the law.

The legal condition that the food safety law requires the operator to bear ten times of the compensation is that the operator knowingly produces and sells products that do not meet the food safety standards to consumers. In this case, the plaintiff Jiang has no evidence to prove that the health care products involved in the case have toxic, harmful or food safety problems that do not meet the nutritional requirements as prescribed by law. Jiang only took 2 pills after purchasing the product involved in the case, that is, he filed a claim for refund and ten times punitive damages on the grounds of discomfort after taking the product. This kind of abnormal consumption behavior, which is sued repeatedly for the same reason and not for the purpose of eating, is contrary to the principle of good faith. The plaintiff, Jiang, has an obvious intention of making profits, so the court does not support his claim for the use of ten times the compensation stipulated by the law.

The court ruled that the defendant health care product store returned the plaintiff Jiang's payment of 460 yuan and rejected Jiang's other claims.

　　 The judge has something to say

In this case, the plaintiff Jiang Mou is different from the simple and accidental purchase of fake knowledge. In a certain period of time, he concentrated on buying a certain class or a certain kind of product in a large number of places, and then filed punitive compensation litigation in different courts, aiming to obtain large benefits through court decisions.

In terms of quantity, from April 5 to 7 alone, Jiang bought a large number of health care products in many places in Xinjiang and filed several claims; In terms of amount, the claim amount of Jiang in a single case is up to 10000 yuan; From the perspective of purchase form, Jiang took audio and video shooting when he entered the door. In combination with Jiang's several lawsuits, purchase details and purposes, it has gone beyond the scope of normal life consumption. The court has reason to believe that Jiang's large-scale purchase of the health care products involved in the above case is, to a large extent, for the purpose of obtaining huge compensation and huge economic benefits through litigation.

Ordinary consumers purchase commodities for the purpose of living consumption, while Jiang purchases commodities for the purpose of claiming compensation. His behavior is profitable as a whole and belongs to a disguised business behavior, so Jiang should not be identified as a consumer. Jiang's claim for ten times compensation does not comply with relevant regulations, so it is not supported.

The law prohibits commercial fraud and does not allow illegal profits. Commodity operators must provide commodities with qualified labels and instructions in a proper and standardized manner to avoid unnecessary legal risks; As a consumer, the motivation and attitude to fight against fake and inferior products are justifiable, but the intention to seek benefits for themselves through punitive compensation violates the principle of good faith.