或重於泰山、或輕於鴻毛－地方法院車禍致死案件撫慰金之實證研究

Abstract

民法第一九四條之死亡慰撫金，法院尚未發展出明確之酌定規則。實際上法院酌定之金額，是逼近同案同判，還是近乎隨機，過去的文獻尚未提出明確分析。將二○○八年至二○一二年地方法院車禍致死案件用在線性混合效果模型與結構方程模型，本文探究法院判給個別原告與全體原告之慰撫金數額，是否有跡可尋，並檢驗學說與作者自行提出之規範主張與實然猜測。統計分析結果發現：原告與被害人的親屬關係，與慰撫金數額高度相關。但從不同角度觀察，會得出配偶或受扶養父母或未成年子女獲得最高額慰撫金之不同結論。當被告必須自掏腰包支付原告之財產上損害時，其負擔越重，慰撫金數額越低。最高法院所明示下級法院應該考量之點，反而沒有明顯影響慰撫金之酌定數額。

Assessing pain and suffering damages in wrongful death cases is discretionary and in some ways mysterious. The Taiwan Supreme Court has laid out the necessary factors to be taken into account by lower courts such as plaintiffs` and defendants` incomes and education levels. It is doubtful, however, whether and to what extent these factors affect the decisions by the district courts in Taiwan. Using a novel data set, this article presents the first large-scale, sophisticated empirical study of pain and suffering damages in wrongful death cases in Taiwan. The findings are that the factors emphasized by the Taiwan Supreme Court had no effect. In addition, familial relations mattered greatly, while age and attorney representation had no clear effects. Moreover, judges used their discretion in assessing pain and suffering damages to adjust the awards to compensate for the victims` other losses. Finally, we find evidence in support of the conjecture that courts would take into account the possibility that high pain and suffering damage may bankrupt defendants.