Southeast Net-Hai Xia Dao Bao, April 26 (Reporter Chen Jie, correspondent Ting Hai) A female college student suffers a Grade 9 disability from a rock climbing fall—should the school be held liable? Yesterday, the Xiamen Intermediate People’s Court issued a final verdict ordering a university in Jimei to pay 90,844 RMB in compensation.
The injured student, Xiao Cui, a freshman at a university in Jimei, was practicing rock climbing at the school gymnasium when she accidentally fell from the top of the climbing wall, resulting in a lumbar vertebra fracture. The injury was assessed as a "Grade 9 disability."
Xiao Cui wasn’t climbing for fun; she was preparing for her upcoming rock climbing class exam. So, on the afternoon of April 26, 2011, she and her two roommates, Xiao Li and Xiao Zhao, went to the school gym for extracurricular climbing practice with permission from their PE teacher.
However, the teacher did not show up at the climbing area during their practice session. After practicing for a while, the two roommates felt they had practiced enough and left first.
But Xiao Cui stayed behind because she felt her performance was “not good enough” and wanted to practice once more. Unfortunately, when she climbed to the top of the climbing wall, she fell.
After the fall, Xiao Cui was taken to the hospital by the school. She was diagnosed with a "lumbar vertebral fracture accompanied by conus medullaris syndrome," which was classified as a Grade 9 disability.
Unable to reach an agreement with the school regarding compensation, Xiao Cui filed a civil lawsuit with the Jimei Court at the end of last year, demanding 199,521 RMB in compensation for her losses.
Yesterday, the Xiamen Intermediate People’s Court issued a final verdict ruling that the school should bear 60% of the responsibility and compensate Xiao Cui over 90,000 RMB. This decision upheld the original verdict from the first trial.