"China Trial" can be subscribed!
Text | Guo Yi
Along the west side of Daming Lake in Jinan, Shandong Province, all the way north through the North Park Elevated, you can clearly feel that the number of construction sites is increasing. Whether it is the endless flow of transport vehicles or the tower crane that "reaches into the sky", it reflects the rapid changes of this land. The Beiyuan People's Court of the Tianqiao District People's Court of Jinan City, Shandong Province is set up in this area. In April 2022, since the North Park Court has tried construction projects in its jurisdiction, the number of construction projects accepted by the Tianqiao Court has decreased by 7% year-on-year, and the mediation rate has increased by 27% year-on-year.
Professional trials respond to the needs of the public
In judicial practice, construction project cases generally have the characteristics of "four more, three major and one difficulty", including many legal relationships, large number of parties, many litigation procedures, many types of evidence, large scope, large subject matter, large contradictions and disputes, and difficulty in restoring facts.
"Construction projects include bidding, general contracting, subcontracting, subcontracting, completion, acceptance, delivery, settlement and other processes; The amount of interest involved in each link is very large, and as long as there is a problem in one link, it is very easy to cause litigation. Liu Wei, vice president of the Tianqiao Court, introduced that construction project cases often have problems such as substandard quality, overdue construction, arrears of project payment, and liability for breach of contract, and such cases generally require judicial appraisal, which increases the time cost and economic cost of the parties' litigation to a certain extent. How to effectively alleviate the burden of litigation on the parties is an examination question in front of the North Park Court.
It is understood that the judges of the North Park Court initially lacked professional knowledge in construction and had certain difficulties in hearing cases. In order to solve this dilemma, the judges combined collective communication and self-study, used the rest time, found relevant cases, read professional books, and improved their quality step by step, and finally were able to "clarify things and understand the words". At the same time, the judges have accumulated trial experience through one case after another, faced difficult cases, innovated dispute resolution methods, and improved their own capabilities, gradually forming a unique advantage belonging to the North Park Court in terms of professional knowledge and trial experience.
Use information to "weave a network" to improve the quality and efficiency of case handling
In 2018, Lao Li left his hometown and led more than 10 villagers to Jinan to make a living and joined a decoration company. Soon after joining the company, the boss of a decoration company invited them to invest 50,000 yuan each in the company. Because the boss usually has a good reputation, everyone agreed to buy shares. But I never expected that when everyone remitted the money to the company's account, the entire decoration company was empty. Lao Li felt guilty in the face of the angry workers, so he distributed the more than 100,000 yuan he had saved to the workers, and chose to stay alone to defend his rights.
"At that time, all the contact information I had was blocked by the boss, and looking for someone was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Lao Li said, "Later, I found out on the Internet that the residence of a decoration company was in the Beiyuan Street Office, so I tried to come to the Beiyuan Court for help."
After the police officers of the North Park Court learned about Lao Li's experience, they helped Lao Li file the case online as quickly as possible. The police officers realized that in the case of the boss "running away", even if Lao Li's lawsuit was supported through a default judgment, it would be difficult to really get back his salary. Only by finding the boss can you really solve the problem.
In order to find the boss who "ran away", the police officers of the North Park Court combed through the information of the decoration case as soon as possible, and after three weeks of searching, they finally found a customer who had cooperated with the boss of "running away". Subsequently, using the information assistance system of the Shandong Provincial High People's Court, the boss who "ran away" was successfully found. After mediation, Lao Li finally got the lost and recovered "hard-earned money".
"It is both accidental and inevitable that the court can find the boss who 'ran away' in the absence of effective information. The relevant person in charge of the North Park Court said that "accidentally" is because this clue was found by chance, and "inevitably" is that the North Park Court has formed an invisible "information network" through information sharing with the competent departments of the construction industry and various developers.
It is understood that in order to weave this "information network", the North Park Court and the Shandong Provincial Engineering Construction Standard Cost Association jointly promote the construction of a new model of "integration of evaluation, mediation and adjudication" for engineering disputes;
In February 2024, the judge of the Beiyuan People's Court of the Tianqiao District People's Court of Jinan City, Shandong Province conducted a survey in a home furnishing market Photo courtesy of the Tianqiao District People's Court of Jinan City, Shandong Province
Strong "intelligence" implementation substantively resolves disputes
In the process of weaving the "information network", the North Park Court not only improved the information of the construction project, but also promoted the diversified and substantive resolution of disputes. For example, through the "integration of evaluation, mediation and adjudication" to resolve disputes, for cases with large disputes and unsuccessful mediation, Shandong Engineering Construction Standard Cost Association will form a professional mediation work report to guide judges to quickly form adjudication ideas and shorten the trial period of the case; Judicial confirmation synchronous docking) can be found and solved at any time to avoid the hidden danger of long-term accumulation of contradictions, and through the docking with the competent department of the construction industry, issue judicial suggestions, reflect the problems existing in the industry, and provide relevant optimization suggestions.
It is understood that after accumulating and summarizing the experience of special trial of construction cases, the North Park Court has formed an effective idea of case trial, and compiled difficult and complex issues into reference documents within the court, which has further improved the degree of specialization of case trial and the unified scale of case adjudication, which is conducive to the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of construction engineering enterprises in the jurisdiction and has played a good demonstration role.
In May 2023, in order to further substantively resolve disputes and contradictions, maximize the legitimate rights and interests of the parties, and strengthen the docking and cooperation between trial and enforcement, the Tianqiao Court decided to carry out a pilot work on court enforcement in the North Park Court, and in July 2023, the North Park Court "strengthened 'smart' enforcement In the process of handling enforcement cases, the enforcement judge will learn about the situation from the trial judge at any time, and through the relevant information of the person subject to enforcement, further inquire about the clues of the property of the person subject to enforcement, so as to promote enforcement and protect the judgment, and improve the efficiency of the successful enforcement of the case.
"If you don't specialize, you can't succeed, and if you don't dabble, you can't get through. "The North Park Court explores innovative methods around construction projects, takes root at the grassroots level, and applies what it has learned, continuously practices the "Fengqiao Experience" in the new era, fully responds to the judicial expectations of the people, and paints a new "maple" scene for the people's court to participate in grassroots social governance.
Cover and table of contents of this issue
China Trial, Issue 6, 2024
China Trial News Semi-Monthly No. 340
Editor/Xu Chang