Court Rules Taxi Driver Bears Responsibility For Passenger's Death

[Mulboyne]

ZakZak has a report (Japanese) of an interesting court case. A 23 year old student in Matsuyama City, Ehime prefecture took a taxi after a heavy drinking session just before Christmas in 2007. The driver dropped him off, leaving him at the side of a road where he injured himself and then froze to death. The student's family sued the taxi driver for 50 million yen compensation, arguing that he had a duty of care once he had agreed to take the fare. The court has agreed with the parents and ruled that the driver should pay 41 million yen in compensation in a decision which has caused concern among taxi drivers. It seems that the drunk student took the cab at around 1:00am and told the driver to head in the direction of his house. About 20 minutes later, he told the driver to stop while he was still around 4km from his destination. He was on a stretch of national highway 317 in the hills. He then walked about 200 metres, went through a gap in a low guard rail along the side of the road and fell into a ditch. He damaged his vertebrae in the fall and it is thought he froze to death at around 5:00am. His family claim that the driver should have known that it was a hazardous spot for a drunk to be stumbling around in the dark and so was negligent in letting him out. The taxi driver argued that he asked his passenger eight times where he wanted to go and was only told "straight on". He says that the student himself told him where to stop and was walking normally when he left the taxi. The judge ruled that the taxi driver knew the territory and so should have known enough not to let the student get out, especially because it was so cold. Shukan Fuji, however, points out that records show it was still around 10 degrees as late as 4:00am so questions whether the driver could have forseen that someone would be at risk of exposure. In general, however, commentators on the case believe the driver bears some responsibility. Other taxi drivers are concerned that his testimony has been ignored by the court and believe the ruling places an overly demanding duty of care on them.

[Kaiju]

is his brother's keeper?

[Samurai_Jerk]

Sounds like the kind of BS lawsuits people in the States win. Poor fucker.

[Coligny]

Island... check!
Bad teeth... check!
Nanny State... in progress
Chavs... soon

This craphole is turning like Great Britain... Without Jeremy Clarkson...

[Mulboyne]

A similar kind of incident seems to have happened in Niigata. A 39 year old woman who went missing on her way home from a bonenkai, has been found dead of exposure in a paddy field. The taxi driver doesn't appear to be so much at fault. She apparently got out of the car near her home and then disappeared.

Source (Japanese)

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

A similar kind of incident seems to have happened in Niigata. A 39 year old woman who went missing on her way home from a bonenkai, has been found dead of exposure in a paddy field. The taxi driver doesn't appear to be so much at fault. She apparently got out of the car near her home and then disappeared.

Source (Japanese)

....wish I could find some 39-year-old women to expose themselves in paddies near my home....Here I was thinking that the only way you could die of exposure was if someone chopped the old feller off when the overcoat was opened wide...

[Mulboyne]

Here's the ANN video report.

She may have got out near her house but it took police a couple of days to find her.

[YThq]RssiEBkIjFI[/YThq]

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Here's the ANN video report.

She may have got out near her house but it took police a couple of days to find her.

[YThq]RssiEBkIjFI[/YThq]

I kinda get the feeling it may have been tougher than expected to identify her because of a dearth of dental records....

[AML]

i think the lesson here is "if you cant hold your drink, you shouldn't be drinking!"

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

i think the lesson here is "if you cant hold your drink, you shouldn't be drinking!"

I'm an aloholic...I don't want to hold the fucking thing, I just want to guzzle it down as quickly as I can...

[Tommybar]

I'm an aloholic...I don't want to hold the fucking thing, I just want to guzzle it down as quickly as I can...

I'm a drunk, I don't do meetings.

[sublight]

...it took police a couple of days to find her.

Which could just as easily mean her body was propped up on her front steps with a flashing neon sign saying "HERE I AM".

[Dragonette]

i think the lesson here is "if you cant hold your drink, you shouldn't be drinking!"

Has anybody ever succeeded in reasoning with a yopparai Nihonjin?

Even if the poor cab driver used force to keep the guy in his car he might have been arrested for abduction, and I'm sure a cop would have given him no help so then what would have been the right move?

[dimwit]

ZakZak has a report (Japanese) of an interesting court case. A 23 year old student in Matsuyama City, Ehime prefecture took a taxi after a heavy drinking session just before Christmas in 2007. The driver dropped him off, leaving him at the side of a road where he injured himself and then froze to death. The student's family sued the taxi driver for 50 million yen compensation, arguing that he had a duty of care once he had agreed to take the fare. The court has agreed with the parents and ruled that the driver should pay 41 million yen in compensation in a decision which has caused concern among taxi drivers. It seems that the drunk student took the cab at around 1:00am and told the driver to head in the direction of his house. About 20 minutes later, he told the driver to stop while he was still around 4km from his destination. He was on a stretch of national highway 317 in the hills. He then walked about 200 metres, went through a gap in a low guard rail along the side of the road and fell into a ditch. He damaged his vertebrae in the fall and it is thought he froze to death at around 5:00am. His family claim that the driver should have known that it was a hazardous spot for a drunk to be stumbling around in the dark and so was negligent in letting him out. The taxi driver argued that he asked his passenger eight times where he wanted to go and was only told "straight on". He says that the student himself told him where to stop and was walking normally when he left the taxi. The judge ruled that the taxi driver knew the territory and so should have known enough not to let the student get out, especially because it was so cold. Shukan Fuji, however, points out that records show it was still around 10 degrees as late as 4:00am so questions whether the driver could have forseen that someone would be at risk of exposure. In general, however, commentators on the case believe the driver bears some responsibility. Other taxi drivers are concerned that his testimony has been ignored by the court and believe the ruling places an overly demanding duty of care on them.

Jeez I didn't even know about this story until today. I think when Mulboyne original posted it, I was in Egypt.

I know Route 317 well, and I can easily see why the courts ruled against the taxi driver. Described in the story as being 'hilly', mountainous is more apt. Small hamlets do exist along the route but are separated by long stretchs of road where the terrain is just too steep to allow anything to be built. If the cabbie let him off in anyone of these isolated section of roadway, getting home might be a challenge to even a sober individual. Common sense should have told him that he ought to have let the passenger off in a place where there actually is human habitation.

[IparryU]

Jeez I didn't even know about this story until today. I think when Mulboyne original posted it, I was in Egypt.

I know Route 317 well, and I can easily see why the courts ruled against the taxi driver. Described in the story as being 'hilly', mountainous is more apt. Small hamlets do exist along the route but are separated by long stretchs of road where the terrain is just too steep to allow anything to be built. If the cabbie let him off in anyone of these isolated section of roadway, getting home might be a challenge to even a sober individual. Common sense should have told him that he ought to have let the passenger off in a place where there actually is human habitation.

sorta fucked up to even leave a sober person in an area like that... I wouldn't mind the hike, but being piss drunk might make me change my mind...

lets hope that the guy fell and was knocked unconscious and then froze to death.

freezing to death is not an easy way to go, not to mention an injury along with it.