On The Civil Liability Of Online Car-hailing Platforms In Traffic Accidents

Online car-hailing,as a form of sharing economy,plays an important role in improving resource utilization and meeting diversified demand.With the increasing number of online car-hailing,related legal disputes are also increasing,among which traffic accident disputes are the most typical.Different from ordinary traffic accidents,online car-hailing traffic accidents add a new subject-platform,so what role the platform plays in the transaction,the obligations and responsibilities of the platform need to be clarified.This paper focuses on traffic accidents,first defines the legal status of the platform,and then further refines the legal obligations and responsibilities of the platform,in order to provide new ideas for the settlement of online car-hailing traffic accident disputes.Specifically,this paper is divided into four parts.Chapter one: Defining the related concepts of online car-hailing and summarizing the argument in judicial practice.Online car-hailing refers to qualified service providers receive orders on the online platform and provide non cruise taxi booking service offline.Online car Hailing platform is a kind of online trading platform,which is a legal person or organization that provides users with trading places and services.However,there are many arguments over the status of online car-hailing platforms and the legal relationship between platforms and drivers in the theoretical and judicial circles,especially the liability of online car-hailing platforms that are purely information media.Therefore,it is of great significance to explore the responsibility of the platform in traffic accidents.Chapter two: Discussing the legal status of online car-hailing platform.From the perspective of platform function,the platform plays a matchmaking role in the transaction,that is,providing media services.From the perspective of user service agreement,the agreement between platform and user conforms to the characteristics of intermediary service contract.Compared with ordinary intermediaries,online car-hailing platforms are more involved in transactions,so it can’t be simply defined as ordinary intermediaries.From the perspective of rules,the platform has the identity of a manager through management by formulating access rules,pricing rules,evaluation rules,etc.From the perspective of business model,online car-hailing platform is a kind of e-commerce platform,which needs preferential protection for consumers.Chapter three: Discussing the obligations of online car-hailing platform and the liability for breach of contract.The obligations of online car-hailing platform are scattered in regulations and service agreements.Among them,traffic accident disputes are most closely related to audit obligations,supervision obligations,and transaction safety guarantee obligations,which need to be further specified.The platform’s liability for breach of contract needs to meet two requirements: the existence of a valid contract and the failure to perform contractual obligations.There are many ways to bear the liability for breach of contract.In view of the fact that passengers mainly suffer personal and property losses in traffic accidents,compensation for losses should be the main way to bear liability for breach of contract.Chapter four: Discussing the tort liability of online car-hailing platform.The current law of our country does not make specific provisions on the responsibility of the platform in traffic affairs,so we need to put forward a feasible path combined with the actual situation.The tort liability of online car-hailing platform should adopt the principle of fault imputation,but the platform has technical advantages in transactions,so the fault presumption rules shall be applied in the determination of fault.When there are infringement subjects outside the platform,the platform should bear unreal joint and several liability to ensure that the victim’s loss can be made up in time and in full.