The application deadline for a class-action lawsuit for the victims of Formosa Fun Coast (八仙海岸) Color Play Asia disaster is to be extended until April 30, the Consumers’ Foundation said yesterday, urging victims to claim their rights.
As of Tuesday last week, 15 people have died of the 499 victims of the disaster, 477 have been discharged from hospitals and seven remain hospitalized, the foundation said, adding that the victims’ road to recovery is still long and painful.
Consumer Reports magazine deputy president Wu Jung-ta (吳榮達), who initiated the class-action lawsuit, said that the suit is a civil action different from the criminal lawsuit that has been filed by the Legal Aid Foundation.
More than 400 victims have participated in the criminal lawsuit with supplementary civil action and the verdict is likely to be announced soon, Wu said, but added that only the event organizer Lu Chung-chi (呂忠吉) is accused in the supplementary civil action, not the Formosa Fun Coast water park, so the compensation for each victim is likely to be limited.
“The assets of Lu and his company might be worth only a few million New Taiwan dollars, which is a big gap between the more than NT$20 billion [US$616.33 million] that the supplementary civil action asks for,” Wu said.
“However, according to Article 55 of the Consumer Protection Act [消費者保護法], consumers can claim for punitive damages for injuries caused by the willful misconduct or the negligence of business owners,” Wu added.
As of early this year, the foundation only received about 40 applications from victims for the planned class-action lawsuit, Wu said, adding that many victims might not know the difference between the lawsuits.
The foundation decided to extend the deadline for application to April 30, hoping that more victims might step forward to claim their rights, Wu said.
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