Reporter Wei Zhezhue

Recently, strong winds have occurred in many places across the country, and Beijing has issued the first orange warning for gale in nearly 10 years. If a strong wind strikes, if the debris on the roof or the trees next to the house cause damage to others, can the responsible person be exempted from liability by saying "I am not to blame if the wind is too strong"? The Fangshan District People's Court of Beijing Municipality combed through the relevant cases that had occurred before and made legal reminders.

The object falls and hits the vehicle

The strata company was ordered to pay damages

Mr. Zhou parked his car in the parking space downstairs of the community, and the next morning found that the vehicle was damaged by an illegally installed satellite pot blown down by a strong wind. Mr. Zhou believes that the community property company has management responsibilities and obligations for the satellite pots placed on the roof of the building. As a result, he sued the property management company to the court, demanding compensation of 3060 yuan for vehicle repair costs.

However, the property management company proposed that there was an extremely windy weather on that day, and the fall of the item could not be predicted in advance, which was a force majeure and should not be held liable. In addition, the satellite pot is placed on the roof of the building, and can only be reached through the attic when entering the owner's home on the top floor, and cannot be entered by daily management inspections, and is not a public area managed by the property management company, so it does not bear management responsibility.

"The satellite pot is placed in the public area on the roof, and the way the property company enters the roof cannot change the nature of the common area on the roof." Li Yali, the judge handling the case, introduced that property service enterprises, as managers of the public areas of buildings, have the obligation to carry out regular maintenance and inspection of buildings, especially before the arrival of extreme weather, and need to strengthen inspections and take effective preventive measures in advance. In this case, the property management company failed to fulfill its obligations as a manager and should bear tort liability.

Regarding the defense that the gale is force majeure, Li Yali said that the key to whether natural disasters can become a cause of force majeure exemption lies in the comprehensive determination of whether the extreme weather is beyond the scope of meteorological warnings and whether the perpetrator has taken reasonable avoidance measures.

In this case, there was no evidence to prove that the windy weather on that day had reached the level of force majeure, and the court ordered the property management company to compensate Mr. Zhou for the repair cost of the vehicle of 3060 yuan.

Trees fall and smash neighbors' houses

The owner is liable for infringement

Due to the windy weather, the poplar trees in Ms. Liu's yard were blown down, and the east wall, north wall and east eaves corner of the neighbor Mr. Wang's house were smashed. When the negotiation failed, Mr. Wang filed a lawsuit with the court, demanding that Ms. Liu compensate for the cost of repairing the damage to the house.

"The poplar tree existed long before Mr. Wang built the house, and Mr. Wang should bear the consequences of building the house next to the poplar tree without considering the safety risk of the tree planting to the continuous fence and foundation. In addition, a strong wind blew on that day, which was a natural disaster. Ms. Liu said that the poplar tree smashed Mr. Wang's house because of a variety of objective factors, and did not agree to compensation.

"According to the provisions of the Civil Code, if the owner or manager of the forest cannot prove that he is not at fault and causes damage to others due to the breaking, dumping or falling of trees, etc., he shall bear tort liability." According to Zhang Xingxing, the judge handling the case, the poplar tree was owned by Ms. Liu, and although there was a strong wind on the day of the incident, there was a meteorological warning, and Ms. Liu was at fault for neglecting to take measures to prevent the trees from falling. In the end, the court ruled that Ms. Liu should pay Mr. Wang 3500 yuan for the repair cost of the damaged house.

In this regard, the Fangshan Court reminded that the tree planter should bear the responsibility of management and protection while enjoying the rights to the tree. When trees grow to block neighbors' daylighting or close to power lines and circuits, they should be pruned or transplanted in time; When the root system of the tree causes damage to the foundation and fence of the neighbor, the root system that crosses the boundary should be removed in time; Before extreme weather such as strong winds and heavy rains, it is necessary to check the root system in advance, and strengthen it immediately if it is loose.

(Zhang Xiaoting participated in the writing)

People's Daily (11/0/0 0 Edition)