In modern China, tripping over a suitcase is a matter for the courts

A family in China has caused uproar by trying to sue a rail passenger whose baggage tripped up their mother at a Beijing railway station. She died two weeks later

Critics say the case shows China is becoming too litigious. If the case fails, they snipe, will the family sue the suitcase maker?

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The moment of Wang's fall. Photo: Internet

Published: 11:00am, 10 Oct 2020Updated: 11:44am, 10 Oct 2020

Next time you take a railway journey, be careful where you put that suitcase. A family in China has caused uproar by trying to sue a rail passenger whose baggage tripped up their elderly mother.

The Wang family say the passenger is to blame for the death of their mother, 67, even though she passed away two weeks after her fall at the Beijing West Railway Station on March 8 last year.

They are demanding the owner of the suitcase – a 63-year-old woman surnamed Liu – pay medical expenses and compensation for their mother’s death and their own mental distress amounting to more than 620,000 yuan (about US$91,200).

While a district court has initially ruled against their claims, the Wangs are pursuing the matter in the hope of proving Liu’s negligence, sparking widespread controversy online. Many Chinese have been critical of the Wangs, with some of the harsher critics suggesting they are trying to profit from their mother’s death and holding them up as an example of China’s increasingly litigious society.

A FATAL FALL

The saga began at around noon on the day in question when the senior Wang and her son – who was not a travelling passenger – attempted to enter the railway station from the second floor entrance.

Without a valid ticket, Wang’s son was told by railway staff that if he wanted to enter the station to send off his mother, he would have to purchase an entry pass from the ticketing booth outside the station.

In modern China, tripping over a suitcase is a matter for the courts

A family in China has caused uproar by trying to sue a rail passenger whose baggage tripped up their mother at a Beijing railway station. She died two weeks later Critics say the case shows China is becoming too litigious. If the case fails, they snipe, will the family sue the suitcase maker?

A family in China has caused uproar by trying to sue a rail passenger whose baggage tripped up their mother at a Beijing railway station. She died two weeks later

Critics say the case shows China is becoming too litigious. If the case fails, they snipe, will the family sue the suitcase maker?