She suffered a palm fracture during a visit to an escape room in Nanjing, leading her to file a lawsuit against the venue and demand compensation. That teenager has now won her case, netting her almost two grand in the process.
On 16 May, the Qinhuai Court of Nanjing publicly announced the first case of compensation for personal injury caused by underage, private-room entertainment in Jiangsu.
The defendant, an entertainment centre that is operator of an escape room in our City, was sentenced to compensate the teenage plaintiff the sum of ¥18,790.77, reports The Paper.
The case dates back to August of last year, when the plaintiff, together with six classmates all under the age of 15, visited the escape room in order to play “Scary Electric Saw Escape” (逃生之电锯惊魂).
Therein, an NPC (Non-Player Character) takes on the role of a “chainsaw madman”, chasing players and creating a terrifying atmosphere.
During the game, the plaintiff was injured while propping her hand against a door in a darkened room to resist the NPC’s entry. She subsequently spent more than ¥11,000 on medical expenses.
Nevertheless, the entertainment centre in question had made it clear that the game contained “severe horror” and was only suitable for “advanced players”.
The defendant argued that, given the plaintiff is a 15-year old child with a certain understanding of the dangers present in the game, their parents also have a guardianship responsibility thereto.
Thus, they claimed, it was unreasonable for the venue to assume full responsibility, as The Nanjinger reported on 24 April.
However, the Court held that the existing evidence was insufficient to prove that the girl’s guardian(s) had prior knowledge of her participation in the escape-room game and thus ruled in the plaintiff’s favour, but not to the extent she would have preferred.
The plaintiff had originally sought ¥36,059.63 for treatment and associated expenses, plus ¥5,000 in emotional comfort.
