COMPENSATION RESPONSIBILITY FOR DAMAGES BETWEEN PARTIES IN AGENT RELATIONSHIP WITH THIRD PARTY
Question: DTD & Associates LLP please give me advice about this situation: In September 2020, I bought skin care cosmetics at Anh Duong Co,.Ltd. After using these products, my facial skin was severely allergic so I had to go to hospital for long-term treatment. The hospital’s diagnostic stated that it was due to the use of substandard cosmetics from Anh Duong Co., Ltd. However, after researching, I found that And Duong Co., Ltd had signed an exclusive agent contract in cosmetics product distribution with Hoa Mai Company. According to the contract, Anh Duong Co., Ltd is the agent of Hoa Mai Company. What liability will the company be responsible for so that I can be compensated for damage caused by their products to my products? Thank you.
Answer: Hello. Thank you for your trust and sending your question to the legal consulting department of DTD & Associates LLP. The content of your question has been researched and consulted by our lawyers as follows:
Legal grounds:
- Civil Code No.91/2015/QH13 promulgated by The National Assembly dated November 24, 2015 (“Civil Code 2015”)
- Commercial Law No.36/2005/QH11 promulgated by The National Assembly dated June 14, 2005 (“Commercial Law 2005”)
- Law on Protection of consumers’ rights No.59/2010/QH12 promulgated by The National Assembly dated November 17, 2010 (“Law on Protection of consumers’ rights 2010”)
- Law on quality of goods and products No.05/2007/QH12 promulgated by The National Assembly dated November 21, 2007 (“Law on quality of goods and products 2007”)
1. Initiate a lawsuit
Pursuant to Clause 1, Article 584 of the Civil Code 2015: “A person intentionally or unintentionally harming the life, health, honor, dignity, reputation, property, or other legal rights or interests of a person, must compensate for such damage, unless otherwise prescribed in this Code or relevant laws.”
According to that, the sale of cosmetics by Anh Duong Company, which adversely affects the health of consumers, is a basis for arising liability for damages.
Besides, Article 303 of the Commercial Law 2005 has regulations on the Grounds for liability to pay damages as follow:
“Except for cases of liability exemption specified in Article 294 of this Law, liability to pay damages shall arise upon existence of all of the following elements:
1. Breach of the contract;
2. Material loss;
3. Act of breaching the contract is the direct cause of the loss.”
On this basis, we can see that the liability for damages to you will arise when all the factors specified above are as follows:
+ Have acts of selling cosmetics that do not guarantee quality;
+ There is an element of spoilage that actually happens when you have an allergy and need long-term treatment;
+ There is a cause and effect relationship between behavior and damage: the sale of a product that does not guarantee quality leads to an allergy to the product by the user and is confirmed by a medical facility about the cause of the allergy. that product is directly caused.
From the above legal grounds, you have enough grounds to initiate a claim for damages to protect your legitimate rights and interests.
Clause 1 Article 23 of Law on Protection of consumers’ rights 2010 regulates that: “Organizations or individuals trading goods shall be liable for damages in the case where defective goods, which supplied by them, cause damages to life, health, properties of consumers, even if the defects are not known to or not caused by those organizations or individuals, except as provided in Article 24 of this Laws.”
At the same time, according to Point a, Clause 2, Article 23 of this Law, organizations and individuals trading in goods specified in Clause 1 include also goods-producing organizations and individuals.
In addition, as prescribed in Clause 2 Article 173 of the 2005 Commercial Law, unless otherwise agreed, the agent principal has the following obligations: “To bear responsibility for quality of goods of goods sale or purchase agents, and quality of services of service-providing agents;”
From the mentioned grounds, although Anh Duong Co., Ltd is the subject that directly established the trading relationship with you, in terms of the nature of the agency relationship, Mai Hoa Company is the owner of the above goods . Thus, based on the provisions of the law, you can sue Hoa Mai Company to ensure your legitimate rights and interests.
2. Damage compensation
Through the information you provided, it can be seen that the Hoa Mai Company 's behavior of supplying poor quality products has caused damage to your health. Thus, pursuant to Article 590 of Civil Code 2015, you could be entitled to receive damage compensations as follow:
“1. Damage caused by harm to health shall comprise:
a) Reasonable costs for treating, nursing and rehabilitation health, and functional losses and impairment of the aggrieved person;
b) Loss of or reduction in the actual income of the aggrieved person. If the actual income of the aggrieved person is irregular and is not able to be determined, the average income level for the type of work performed by the aggrieved person shall be applied;
c) Reasonable costs and actual income losses of the carers of the aggrieved person during the period of treatment. If the aggrieved person loses his or her ability to work and requires a permanent carer, the damage shall also include reasonable costs for taking care of the aggrieved person.
d) Other damage as prescribed by law.
2. A person causing harm to the health of another person must pay the items provided in Clause 1 of this Article together with an amount of money as compensation for mental suffering of the aggrieved person. The amount of compensation for mental suffering shall be as agreed by the parties; if the parties are not able to agree, the maximum sum shall not exceed fifty-month base salary prescribed by the State.”
Thus, according to the law, you will be compensated for the following expenses:
- Reasonable expenses for treatment, rehabilitation, rehabilitation of lost or impaired functions;
- Real income is lost or decreased;
- The reasonable expenses and the actual lost income of your caregiver during the treatment period;
- Compensation level to compensate for mental loss.
These expenses will be properly calculated by the competent authority on the basis of the actual damage as a basis for requesting the violating entity to compensate you for damages.
