| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
Captain Corea
Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Location: Seoul
|
 Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2010 9:27 pm Post subject: How much is an English Teacher's life worth? |
 |
|
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/07/117_68579.html
| Quote: |
Dead English teacher's family gets payment for future US income
If an American English teacher died in a traffic accident here, would the compensation be based on his or her future income here or in their home country? The nation's high court ruled Tuesday that it is in the United States.
The Seoul High Court ordered Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance to pay 869 million won in damages to the teacher's family, saying the payment should be calculated based on his projected earnings as a school teacher in the U.S., even though he was working here at the time of the death.
"The teacher was single and maintained a legal residency in the U.S. state of Maryland. All his family and relatives also live in his home country. Given these factors, it's reasonable to think that he would have returned to the U.S. once his teaching contract here expired," the court said. "He had previously taught English in Thailand and returned to the U.S. Even though we cannot rule out a possibility that he might have stayed in Korea, it is highly likely that he would have gone back to his home country and pursued a career there."
The English teacher, who had a masters degree in education, was riding a motorcycle in December 2007 when he was hit by a bus that crossed a three-way intersection, running a red light, in southern Seoul. His teaching contract expired in July the following year.
Samsung had initially calculated the amount of compensation by taking the average wage of a domestic salaried worker in urban areas into account, saying it was difficult to conclude that he would have returned to the U.S. once his contract here had expired.
But to protest Samsung's decision, his sister filed a suit against the insurance firm, arguing the bereaved family should be awarded based on his projected income as a school teacher in the U.S.
Earlier, the lower court had ruled that Samsung must pay the teacher's family 990 million won in compensation. But the firm appealed to the high court. |
Thoughts? |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
AbraxasZ
Joined: 22 Aug 2006
|
| Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2010 9:46 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Ridiculous. He could also have potentially been the future inventor of a matter transporter and thus a bagillionaire. But he wasn't on that path. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Gaber
Joined: 23 Apr 2006
|
| Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2010 10:57 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Seriously? Hope my family doesn't read this and try to engineer an 'accident' |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
moosehead
Joined: 05 May 2007
|
| Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2010 11:34 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| have to consider the source - the K-times isn't exactly known as a bastion of respectable reporting. must be more to the story than that. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
diver
Joined: 16 Jun 2003
|
| Posted: Fri Jul 02, 2010 2:47 am Post subject: |
|
|
| moosehead wrote: |
| have to consider the source - the K-times isn't exactly known as a bastion of respectable reporting. must be more to the story than that. |
The Korea Times? I am surprised there wasn't an article about how the guy vandalized the bus. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Jeunesse
Joined: 11 Nov 2009
|
| Posted: Fri Jul 02, 2010 2:50 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Gaber wrote: |
| Seriously? Hope my family doesn't read this and try to engineer an 'accident' |
Remind me not to read Dave's while deskwarming. The mental picture of this made me laugh hard enough to scare my co-teacher.  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Alphabet_Stew
Joined: 13 Jun 2010
Location: Earth
|
| Posted: Fri Jul 02, 2010 5:53 am Post subject: |
|
|
USD $ 700,000 is about the correct amount for a young person whose life ended tragically because a "city" bus did something wrong and ended his life.
What is the argument?
geez... if I stepped onto the pedestrian crossing and was hit by a car running a red light - I hope my family gets the same amount if not more. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Dragoon
Joined: 18 Apr 2010
|
| Posted: Fri Jul 02, 2010 5:56 am Post subject: |
|
|
| My life is worth about $3.97 last time I checked.... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Joe Boxer
Joined: 25 Dec 2007
Location: Bundang, South Korea
|
| Posted: Fri Jul 02, 2010 6:19 am Post subject: |
|
|
Think about it... What kind of foreigners die more often in Korea; ESL teachers from the West, or 3D (Dangerous, Dirty, Difficult) workers from poorer countries? By setting this as a precedent (paying the "lost wages" at the rate of the home country) they are saving a TON of money.
How much taka would a dead Bangladeshi brick layer qualify for? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
VFRinterceptor
Joined: 22 Jun 2009
|
| Posted: Fri Jul 02, 2010 6:23 am Post subject: |
|
|
| diver wrote: |
| The Korea Times? I am surprised there wasn't an article about how the guy vandalized the bus. |
Exactly. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
AsiaESLbound
Joined: 07 Jan 2010
Location: Truck Stop Missouri
|
| Posted: Fri Jul 02, 2010 6:34 am Post subject: |
|
|
I did this human for sale assessment thingy today and my life is worth a whopping $3,300,000 US dollars. Why I didn't know I was such a valuable piece of equipment. I thought of myself as being worth about $1,000,000, but it costs that in food, housing, and essentials to live about 30 more years. What a expensive marvel in nature technology I am. The Homo Sapien. A human is quite a state of the art thing in all honesty as compared to anything else in existence. What it would be to have a million dollars in the bank. Don't count on someone else paying your way should something go wrong as much as it may be needed.
http://www.humanforsale.com/
A bachelors degree only added $25,000 of value in itself. It sounds about right that you will make about $1,000,000 in your working life so the other $2,000,000 is for non-monetary qualities of you being a person. You really can't place a monetary value on life itself, because money only buys time and fixes flaws to a certain extent. What it would be to be rich and pay for your brain to be transplanted into an 18 year old athletic body to do it all over again with wisdom on your side. That would be the ultimate adventure. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
ReeseDog
Joined: 05 Apr 2008
Location: Classified
|
| Posted: Mon Jul 05, 2010 11:18 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| AbraxasZ wrote: |
| Ridiculous. He could also have potentially been the future inventor of a matter transporter and thus a bagillionaire. But he wasn't on that path. |
Wasn't he, though? We'll never know.
At any rate, he's dead as stone, as we all will be someday. And whether I die seventy years from now a rich and accomplished man (or a hagwon monkey, as is more likely the case) or tomorrow having been turned into a road pizza by a bus, I hope for the same thing: that my surviving friends and family will mourn me if I deserve it, drink to me whether I deserve it or not, and that my last cheque to the undertaker bounces.
In any case, I don't need someone trying to win a paycheque from my demise, however it comes. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
JMO
Joined: 18 Jul 2006
Location: Daegu
|
| Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2010 1:55 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Was he qualified to teach in the states? That is one massive settlement. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
