Xu Shoulan v. Peng Yu

Xu Shoulan v. Peng Yu, also referred to as the Peng Yu case[1] or the Nanjing Peng Yu Incident,[2] was a civil lawsuit in the People's Republic of China, brought before the Nanjing District Court in 2007.

In 2006, Peng Yu had encountered Xu Shoulan after she had fallen, breaking her femur. Peng assisted Xu and brought her to a local hospital for further care. Xu accused Peng of having caused her fall, and demanded that he pay her medical expenses. The court decided in favor of the plaintiff and held Peng liable for damages, reasoning that despite the lack of concrete evidence, "no one would in good conscience help someone unless they felt guilty".[3] The verdict received widespread media coverage, and engendered a public outcry against the decision. It is regarded as a landmark case because of its implication that the Chinese public is vulnerable to civil liability for lending help in emergency situations due to the lack of any Good Samaritan laws.[4][5]

However, with Peng’s admission of guilt and resolution of legal proceedings, the financial fraud narrative of the case was proven to be untrue, though in 2015, Melody Young voiced concerns that the chilling effect of Peng’s actions on bystander intervention still remained.[4]

  1. ^ Minter, Adam (8 January 2012). "China's Infamous 'Good Samaritan' Case Gets a New Ending". Bloomberg View. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  2. ^ Li, Hongmei (20 September 2011). ""Good people and good deeds" should never be tarnished". Xinhua. Archived from the original on October 20, 2011. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  3. ^ "男子称扶摔倒老太反被告 被判赔4万". 163.com. Archived from the original on 2015-09-29. Retrieved 2007-09-11.
  4. ^ a b Young, Melody W. "The Aftermath of Peng Yu: Restoring Helping Behavior in China" (PDF). Pacific Rim Law & Policy Journal Association. Retrieved 23 October 2015. - Available at Gale Academic Onefile.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference china.org.cn was invoked but never defined (see the help page).