The Taiwan High Court yesterday ruled that Taipei City Government must pay NT$330 million to the former residents of the Tunghsing Building (
Yesterday's verdict said: "City officials were negligent in supervising the building's construction and quality control, so they should be responsible for the catastrophe."
The Tunghsing Building was leveled in the magnitude 7.3 earthquake six years ago, killing 87 people.
PHOTO: CHIEN JUNG-FENG, TAIPEI TIMES
The ruling
The verdict said 152 victims will be able to receive compensation in the range of NT$1.8 million to NT$ 2.5 million, according to the damages they suffered.
The court's decision said although the National Compensation Law (國賠法) did not apply to this case -- since the company contracted to build the 12-story complex were granted a construction license on February 23, 1981, before the law was implemented on July 1 of that year -- the city government should still pay for damages to the property and well-being of those victims, according to Taiwan's Civil Code.
PHOTO: CHIEN JUNG-FENG, TAIPEI TIMESN
City to Appeal?
Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
The commissioner of the city government's Bureau of Public Works, William Chen (
"It is unreasonable to lay all the blame on the city government," he said.
Chen said that construction companies and architects, not the city government, should take responsibility for quality control.
The original lawsuit filed by surviving residents demanded NT$1.5 billion in compensation from the city government. In May 2002 the Taipei City District Court ruled the city government must pay NT$480 million in compensation.
More than 20 members of the Tunghsing Building Self-help Association (
Long process
Tsai said the residents requested that the city government not appeal the verdict to the Supreme Court.
"The lawsuit has taken too long," he said. "The residents are so tired, and this should end now."
Time to wrap it up
He said the city government should spend more time tightening security measures for future construction projects and designing regulations to protect human life, rather than fighting the victims in court.
It was a sad story, he said, noting that in some cases all of the members of a family had been killed in the complex during the earthquake.
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