Tianshan.com - Xinjiang Legal Daily reporter Zhang Xiu, correspondent Lan Jiayu
"You should compensate me for my mental loss!" I believe you often hear this sentence.
As long as you are injured, can you ask the other party to compensate for mental damage? Let's take a look at the two cases heard by the People's Court of Wuerhe District, Karamay City.
Case 1
One night in April 2023, Zhao had a dispute with Zhang in a restaurant. Zhang smashed an empty wine bottle into Zhao's head, causing Zhao to be injured and hospitalized for 12 days. After identification by the public security organ, Mr. Zhang's behavior caused slight injury to Mr. Zhao.
Later, Zhang was detained by the public security organ for 5 days and fined 2000 yuan. At the same time, Zhao sued Zhang to the Urho District Court, demanding that Zhang compensate more than 22000 yuan for various losses, including 5000 yuan for mental loss.
After the trial of the court, Zhang was sentenced to compensate Zhao for 9235.7 yuan in total in medical expenses, hospital board allowance, lost time expenses and transportation expenses, and rejected Zhao's claim for mental loss expenses. At present, the judgment has come into force.
Case 2
One day in June 2023, Zhao, an employee of a company, drove a company bus and collided with Wu's motorcycle, causing Wu to be injured. According to the traffic police department, Zhao is mainly responsible for the accident and Wu is secondary to the accident.
After the accident, Wu was hospitalized. It is identified that Wu's rib fracture is Grade 10 disability, lumbar movement function restriction is Grade 10 disability, and pelvic malunion is Grade 10 disability; Organic (brain trauma) neurosis like syndrome, the degree of mental disability is 10. Wu sued Zhao's company to the court, claiming compensation for various losses totaling more than 380000 yuan, including 8000 yuan for emotional damages.
In the end, the court upheld all Wu's claims. At present, the judgment has come into force.
The judge said
It is also an injury. Why didn't the court support the plaintiff's claim for mental damage compensation in Case 1?
The judge in charge introduced that Article 1183 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China stipulates that if the personal rights and interests of a natural person are infringed upon and serious mental damage is caused, the infringed person has the right to claim compensation for mental damage. If serious mental damage is caused by intentional or gross negligence infringement on a specific thing of personal significance of a natural person, the infringee has the right to claim compensation for mental damage.
In other words, in the case of infringement of personal rights and interests, only "causing serious mental damage" can claim mental loss fees. So how to judge whether it is serious mental damage?
In case 1, Zhao was identified as a minor injury, and was cured and discharged after 12 days of hospitalization, which did not meet the standard of disability level, so the court rejected Zhao's claim for compensation for mental damage.
In case 2, the traffic accident in Wu constituted multiple Grade 10 disabilities, which caused psychological and physical damage. When determining the amount of compensation, the court took into account the degree of physical and mental damage suffered by Wu in the accident, the living standard of the region, and the physical recovery of Wu, and based on the principle of fairness and justice, determined that the compensation for mental damage was 8000 yuan.
To sum up, in the case of personal injury, in general, the degree of personal injury of the infringed person must constitute the level of disability before it can be recognized as serious mental injury. Of course, the judge has a certain discretion to determine the degree of serious mental damage, which will be determined according to the specific circumstances of the case.
[Editor in charge: Zhang Weihua]
