A 23-YEAR-OLD man fell to his death from an office building in Shenzhen while he was drunk, and his three colleagues who were drinking with him and had brought him to the office building were ordered to compensate the dead man’s family over 300,000 yuan (US$43,330) by a court, the Daily Sunshine reported yesterday.

    The man, surnamed Lin, was hired by a Shenzhen-based design company April 30, 2015. The head of the company, surnamed He, and two other colleagues, identified as Fang and Liu, on May 4 invited Lin to dinner after his first day of work.

    They drank one bottle of Chinese spirits and four bottles of beer during dinner, and they went to a nearby bar after dinner and continued drinking until 1 a.m. the next morning.

    Lin was already drunk and couldn’t walk by himself when they left the bar. Fang, Liu and one of the restaurant’s waiters, surnamed Wen, brought Lin to the company’s office building, while He called a cab and went home.

    Fang was waiting for a designated driver on the ground floor when Liu and Wen brought Lin to the company’s tea room and left him there. A few minutes later, Lin fell from a window in the tea room and died.

    A police investigation ruled out foul play in Lin’s death.

    Lin’s parents sued He, Fang and Liu at Nanshan District People’s Court after Lin’s death, demanding over 1 million yuan in compensation. The court made a ruling after the first trial, ordering the three defendants to compensate Lin’s family with 303,900 yuan.

    Lin’s parents refused to accept the ruling and appealed to the Shenzhen Intermediated People’s Court. They said there was a couch placed below the window in the tea room and the window was only 0.8 meters higher than the couch, which posed a threat to Liu’s safety.

    They also blamed Fang, He and Liu for leaving Lin, who was already drunk, alone in the tea room, without fulfilling their obligation of taking care of him.

    Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court upheld the ruling, saying that the company shouldn’t be held responsible, because Lin didn’t attend the dinner for business reasons. Fang, He and Liu had the obligation of taking care of Lin after he was drunk, but Lin was mainly responsible for his death, because he should be aware of his physical condition and his tolerance of alcohol. (Zhang Yang)