消費者保護法第五十一條懲罰性賠償金之研究—以消費者死亡之案例類型為中心

Abstract

隨著時代進步，人類社會生活所必需之物品均有賴企業經營者提供，然而企業經營者可能為追逐利益而罔顧消費者權益，放任商品或服務所潛藏之風險侵害消費者之人身安全。針對此問題，我國消費者保護法於制定時，參考美國法並引進懲罰性賠償金制度，但在我國民法主要繼受自大陸法系之情況下，應如何解釋適用消保法之懲罰性賠償金，在學說及實務上衍生不少爭議。尤其近年來重大消費爭議頻傳，對消費者人身安全造成重大危害之案件亦所在多有，其中導致消費者死亡之案例，究應如何解釋適用懲罰性賠償金，似將顯得更為困難。\n\n本文透過實務判決之整理與分析，輔以國內學說之研究，並參考美國法之規範，檢討我國消保法之懲罰性賠償金相關爭議問題。首先，針對懲罰性賠償金制度之目的、性質與發展歷史，以及懲罰性賠償金判決得否於大陸法系承認與執行等方面進行研究，瞭解其制度背景與理論基礎，為後續分析討論奠定基礎。其次，就消保法懲罰性賠償金之爭議問題進行探討，釐清其法律定位及法律結構，再聚焦「適用客體範圍」、「請求權主體」、「責任主體」與「數額計算」之問題，透過分析大量實務及學說見解，歸納出我國適用懲罰性賠償金呈現寬嚴不一之樣貌，並試圖描繪出懲罰性賠償金所應有之圖像。最後，從比較法之角度觀察我國民法生命權侵害之立法抉擇，對消費者死亡之懲罰性賠償金所造成之影響，並參考美國法之規範，建構出消費者死亡仍得請求懲罰性賠償金之規範模式。而關於消費者死亡時之懲罰性賠償數額計算，則透過實務案例之分析，比較人身損害案件之相關數額，據以檢討現行實務輕重失衡與數額偏低之情形，並嘗試發展可能之解釋途徑與提出立法建議，希冀使懲罰性賠償金之運用更臻完善，及提供實務適用之參考。

With the advancement of time, all goods necessary for human life are provided by business operators. However, in pursuit of profit, business operators may disregard the rights and interests of consumers and allow the potential risks of goods or services to infringe upon the personal safety of consumers. To address this issue, Taiwan`s Consumer Protection Act was enacted with reference to US law and introduced a punitive damages institution. However, as the Civil Code in Taiwan is mainly inherited from the civil law system, there is still a lot of controversy in both doctrine and practice as to how to interpret the punitive damages applicable to the Consumer Protection Act. In particular, there have been many major consumer disputes in recent years. There have also been many cases of significant harm to the safety of consumers. In cases resulting in the death of a consumer, it seems to be more difficult to interpret the application of punitive damages.\n\nThis study analyses the decisions of the courts and the domestic doctrines, and reviews the controversial issues related to punitive damages in the Consumer Protection Act in Taiwan with reference to the US law. Firstly, this study examines the purpose, nature and history of the punitive damages institution, and whether punitive damages can be recognized and enforced in the civil law system, in order to understand its institutional background and theoretical basis, and to lay the foundation for subsequent analysis and discussion. Secondly, this study examines the controversial issues of punitive damages under the Consumer Protection Act in order to clarify their legal position and structure, and then focuses on the issues of "scope of the applicable object", "subject of the claim", "subject of liability" and "calculation of the damages". By analyzing a large number of the court decisions and the doctrinal opinions, this study summarizes the severely varied appearance of punitive damages in Taiwan and attempts to paint a picture of what punitive damages should look like. Lastly, this study examines the impact of the legislative choices of the Civil Code on the infringement of the right to life in Taiwan on punitive damages for consumer death from a comparative law perspective, and constructs a model of punitive damages for consumer death with reference to the US law. Regarding the calculation of the amount of punitive damages in the cases of consumer death, this study compares the amount of damages in personal injury cases through the analysis of practical cases, reviews the imbalance between the severity of the sentence and the low amount in the current legal practice, and tries to develop possible paths of interpretation and legislative proposals, with a view to improving the institution of punitive damages and providing a reference for the application.