Vehicle stopped at a charging station... Result of lawsuit over ‘major accident’ caused by pushing car with employee

‘Severely injured’ after being run over by a vehicle… Bus stops after crash
Court: “The plaintiff is more at fault”

A driver who was seriously injured while pushing a vehicle with the engine turned off at a gas charging station filed a lawsuit for damages against the charging station owner, but lost.

Masan Branch of the Changwon District Court dismissed the plaintiff's claim in a damages lawsuit filed by Mr. A, a man in his 30s, against Mr. B, the owner of the gas filling station, last May.

Mr. A suffered serious injuries while visiting a gas filling station in May last year. The accident occurred while he was pushing a car that was not starting, along with a charging station employee, to move it.

At the time, the exit from the charging station was on a downhill road, and as the vehicle accelerated, it started heading towards the road, and Mr. A tried to block it late, but it was not enough. In the end, the vehicle stopped only after passing Mr. A, who had fallen, and collided with a bus traveling on the road.

Mr. A claimed that the charging station was responsible. They requested the vehicle to be moved despite knowing that it was a dangerous downhill terrain, and proper safety measures were not taken.

Mr. B's side refuted this claim. The employee countered that he did not directly order the vehicle to move, and that the accident occurred due to Mr. A's voluntary judgment.

The court found that there was no negligence on the part of Mr. B. The court ruled, “There is room to believe that the charging station staff did not provide sufficient guidance on the slope or risk factors at the site, but the direct cause of the accident was that Mr. A was crushed by the vehicle while trying to stop the accelerating vehicle by manpower.”

He added, “It is difficult to say that the accident was a situation in which the employee could have predicted it, and there is no causal relationship sufficient to recognize legal responsibility between the employee’s actions and the accident.”

Attorney Jong-Hoon Han of Daeryun Law Firm, who represented Mr. B, said, “For liability for damages to be recognized, there must be a sufficient connection between the wrongful act and the resulting damage. By comprehensively considering the likelihood of an accident occurring, the level of employee negligence, and the severity of the damage, etc., the plaintiff’s claim could have been dismissed.”

Digital Content Team

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Vehicle stopped at charging station... Result of lawsuit for ‘major accident’ caused by pushing car with employee (link)