Ordinary Tort Litigation in China: Law versus Practical Justice?

Pei Guosong died when he drove his Dayun-48 light motorcycle into the back of a farm tractor parked on the side of a road in rural Hubei province on the afternoon of October 1, 2010. A police inspection found that Pei was primarily responsible for the accident because he had been drunk, failed to wear a helmet, and was riding without a license at the time of his death. Nevertheless, the police also found Liu Chuanbin, the owner of the tractor, to be secondarily at fault because he had blocked traffic when he temporarily parked his tractor. Liu had done so to help a third person, Liu Yi, load rice that Liu Yi had been drying on the road. Pei’s wife and two grown sons brought suit against Liu Chuanbin, Liu Yi, and the transportation and road safety offices of the local county government. Although the police report on the accident did not assign responsibility to either Liu Yi or to the local government, the court imposed liability on all of the defendants other than the local transportation department. The court assessed total damages at 371,358 yuan (roughly $55,000). It ordered Liu Yi and Liu Chuanbin jointly to pay 15% of the damages, or 55,703 yuan, plus 4500 yuan in emotional compensation to the plaintiffs. The court found that the rice farmer, Liu Yi, was liable because he had acted illegally in drying rice on the road. The court also ordered the local road safety office to pay 10% of damages, or 37,135 yuan, plus