Argentine Chinese Online Buenos Aires, June 5th News Recently, a legal judgment related to consumer rights protection occurred in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina. An accident occurred in Walmart supermarket. It was finally determined that the company and insurance company were required to pay a pesos of mental damage to an injured girl and pay a total of 180,000 pesos for medical and related expenses to her parents.
According to Argentina media reports, the case originated from a six-year-old girl trying to use pastries on January 12, 2017 while shopping at a Walmart store at 658 Pueyrredón Avenue in the capital, but a pile of plastic baskets containing tomatoes suddenly collapsed and directly hit her right leg, causing her leg to fracture both fibula and tibia. The on-site emergency personnel arrived as soon as possible and sent the girl to Los Arcos clinic for treatment.
After the incident, the girl's parents filed a civil claim against Walmart and its insurance company Sancor Cooperativa de Seguros on behalf of themselves and their brother, demanding compensation for mental damage and other related expenses. The insurance company was listed as the liability guarantor. The first instance court in the case partially supported the claim, finding that Walmart and the insurance company needed to pay pesos 6.68 million to the girl, but rejected other compensation requests from parents and brothers. In response, both the plaintiff and the defendant and the minor protection officer filed an appeal.
The second instance court, namely the first court of the Argentine National Civil Appeal Court, upholds the first instance legal judgment after trial, and further invokes the Consumer Rights Protection Law and the Civil Code, which clearly states that this case is a typical consumer relationship. As a product and service provider, supermarkets must bear strict liability for consumer damage caused by safety issues in the business premises.
The verdict states: "Once an injury occurs, the supplier must bear the 'safety result responsibility', and the relevant damage calculation adopts the result-oriented principle." In the investigation of the cause of the accident, the court accepted the testimony of the supermarket manager. The manager admitted that the relevant employees temporarily placed the tomato-containing metal trolley and multiple plastic baskets in the shopping area and then went to restock the goods. The basket then fell and injured the girl, but there was no evidence that the girl's own behavior was the main cause of the accident. The insurance company argued that the girl guardian was not well cared for, but the reason was not supported.
The second instance court commissioned medical and psychological identification to confirm that the injured girl had no permanent disability after treatment and was cured of the fracture, and no follow-up medical or psychological intervention was required. Therefore, the court rejected the relevant claims such as future treatment and subsequent disability, and only recognized the previous cash expenses of 180,000 pesos for medical, medicine and transportation, and allocated 90,000 pesos to his parents.
Regarding the amount of mental damage compensation, the Court of Final Appeal took into account the age, severity of the injury and the joint impact on life of the victim, and decided to increase the amount of mental damage compensation to pesos 8 million. It believed that the amount not only reflects the society's attention to the rights and interests of minors, but also fits the actual situation of the case, and effectively compensates for the impact of the accident on girls' psychology and life. The demand for compensation for mental damages by parents and brothers was dismissed again. The court's reason was that according to the Code, family members can only receive such compensation if there is a "major disability" and this case does not constitute.
In addition, the court clearly stipulates that the amount and threshold of insurance claims shall be converted based on the exchange rate at the time of the incident, and the interest shall be calculated at 8% annual interest rate from the date of the accident to the date of the first instance judgment, and then to the actual payment date shall be calculated at the loan interest rate of the National Bank of Argentina for the same period.
This judgment not only directly affects girls and their families, but also strengthens the judicial orientation of safety responsibilities of business premises, strict compensation standards in consumer relations and child rights protection in Argentina's legal practice, which is of great demonstration significance for similar cases in the future.
Information source: INFOBAE
