Men to pay compensation in sudden death case

Two men were ordered to pay compensation after a co-worker they had shared a drink with during a night out in Guiyang, Guizhou Province suddenly died for reasons still unknown.

A court ordered the men to pay 56,000 yuan ($8,858) to the family of the victim, 40-year-old surnamed Lin, following the bizarre death in September, reported Guizhou Metropolitan Daily.

The men, surnamed Li and Zhang, had been found not guilty in the 320,000 yuan civil lawsuit filed by Lin’s family for negligence.

However, the defendants were still ordered to pay compensation according to Chinese tort law for their connection to the death, the Nanming district court ruled.

According to court records, Li and Zhang first called Lin out for a late night of karaoke.

They shared a drink together. Lin, a light drinker, soon felt ill and began vomiting.

Believing he had a low alcohol tolerance, Li and Zhang laid him down on a sofa and continued to drink.

An hour later, the men said Lin began looking worse and called 110.

Lin was dead by the time paramedics arrived.

An autopsy was never performed, and the cause of Lin’s death remains unknown.

Lin’s family had accused Li and Zhang of forcing Lin to drink and neglecting to alert medics in time, and sought 320,000 yuan in damages.

A judge with the Nanming District People’s Court ruled that Lin had been a willing participant in the drinking and Li and Zhang had performed responsibly.

However, according to China’s Tort Liability Law, in a nofault judgment parties involved may still be found responsible to pay compensation on a caseby-case basis.

Considering Lin had a wife and children, the court ordered Zhang and Li to pay 10-percent of the total sought damages, or 56,000 yuan.