Introduction

March 15th is International Consumer Rights Day.As ordinary consumers,how should they protect their legitimate rights and interests in case of product liability disputes due to product quality issues?

Basic case details

Case source:People's Court Case Library

Zhu was once injured in a car accident,resulting in cervical spine injury and paralysis of the lower limbs.Zhu's wife,Du,purchased a multifunctional fumigation device at the defendant's health and wellness center for 2980 yuan.After purchasing a fumigation device involved in the case,Du carried Zhu onto the device and fumigated for 30 minutes.Later,he found that Zhu's buttocks were burned,so he contacted Guo,the operator of a health and wellness center,to go to his home for treatment.After simple treatment,the injury did not improve and was later sent to the hospital for treatment.The diagnosis was hip burn II°-III°,with a total hospitalization of 39 days.After Zhu was discharged from the hospital,the two parties were unable to reach a consensus on the issue of compensation for damages,so they filed a lawsuit in court,requesting an order:Firstly,the defendant,a health and wellness center,compensated the plaintiff Zhu three times the price of the goods,which was 8940 yuan;2、The defendant,a health and wellness center,compensated the plaintiff Zhu with 84688.5 yuan in various losses,including medical expenses,work loss expenses,nursing expenses,nutrition expenses,hospitalization meal subsidies,transportation expenses,appraisal fees,and compensation for mental damages.

The People's Court of Changqing District,Jinan City has made the following civil judgment after trial:1.A certain health and wellness center is limited to compensate Zhu for various losses such as medical expenses,nursing expenses,nutrition expenses,hospitalization meal subsidies,transportation expenses,appraisal fees,etc.of 75608.91 yuan within ten days from the effective date of the judgment;2、Restrict a certain health and wellness center to refund the price of 2980 yuan for the multifunctional fumigation device involved in Zhu's case within ten days from the effective date of the judgment;3、Within ten days from the effective date of the judgment,Zhu is required to return one multi-functional fumigation device involved in the case to a health and wellness center;4、Reject Zhu's other litigation requests.After the verdict was pronounced,neither party appealed,and the verdict has taken legal effect.

The court held that

After trial,the court found that the plaintiff was scalded during the normal use of the fumigation device involved in the case,indicating that the product had design defects.And during the sales process,the seller did not clearly inform consumers that the fumigation device in question should not be used for special groups with lower limb paralysis or other body parts that are unconscious.If there is a fault,the seller should bear the liability for compensation.At the same time,after the plaintiff was injured,his relatives did not seek medical treatment in a timely manner,and he also had some fault for the consequences of the damage.The court,at its discretion,ordered the defendant to compensate 90%of the plaintiff's various losses.

Secondly,as an ordinary seller,the defendant does not possess professional inspection skills and abilities.Based on the trust of written appearance proof documents such as certificates of conformity and testing reports related to the product in question,they have reason to believe that the product is a qualified product,and there is no other evidence to prove that the defendant intentionally concealed or falsely promoted the product.Therefore,it cannot be determined that the defendant engaged in fraudulent sales behavior.The court does not support the plaintiff's claim for compensation of three times the price of the goods.However,due to quality defects in the products involved in the case,the fumigation device should be recalled by the defendant and the purchase price should be refunded to the plaintiff.

Lawyer Interpretation

This case is a product liability dispute.According to the relevant provisions of Article 1203 of the Civil Code,if a consumer causes damage due to defects in the product during use,they can claim their rights from the product producer or request compensation from the seller.For producers and sellers of products,according to the above legal provisions,regardless of their own fault,as long as the product has defects and causes damage,they should bear no fault liability.

Does having a certificate of conformity,testing report,and national mandatory product certification constitute a qualified product?It is worth noting that although the fumigation device in question already has the above-mentioned written documents,relying solely on these written appearance proofs cannot necessarily prove that the fumigation device in question has no design or quality defects.Due to the fact that consumer Zhu belongs to a special group of people with long-term paralysis,the health and wellness center,as the seller of the product,did not inform the special group that the fumigation device is not suitable for lower limb paralysis or other body parts that are unconscious,which poses an"unreasonable danger".Therefore,consumers can still request the seller or producer to bear infringement liability for the losses and consequences caused by the use of the product.

Here,the lawyer first reminds consumers to pay attention to keeping the product receipts when purchasing goods.If a product infringement incident occurs,seek medical attention in a timely manner and properly keep invoices for medical and nursing expenses incurred during the medical treatment process,in order to provide effective evidence in the litigation process and reduce losses.As a product seller or producer,we should strictly control the quality of our products.If there are non-specific risks during the use of the product,consumers should be informed in a timely manner.Once defects are found in the product quality,they should be recalled in a timely manner to avoid personal injury incidents.

Team Introduction

The Xianwei Personal Injury Rights Protection Team is a young lawyer team with excellent professional quality and rich experience in handling cases.The team adheres to the service concept of"rigorous,efficient,professional,and responsible",forming a professional,standardized,and standardized case handling model.It is committed to handling various types of personal injury infringement liability disputes and providing customers with higher quality and efficient legal services.

The team consists of 8 members,all of whom have years of work experience and rich practical experience.In recent years,they have dealt with more than 100 types of personal injury infringement cases,including disputes over liability for labor service providers,liability for voluntary assistance workers,liability for motor vehicle/non motor vehicle traffic accidents,and liability disputes for educational institutions.The team adheres to the principle of"maximizing the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of the parties involved",ensuring that every client's commission receives the most professional and accurate legal services.