I always remember the scene when the assistant Zhang Yan entered the house with the newly accepted case materials: when I looked at it, I couldn't see anyone, it was all paper. At the same time, there are many parties in this case, there are 11 plaintiffs alone, 2 defendants, basically over 65 years old, older than 70 years old, and the defendant's son Xiao Zheng is the only junior. Looking at the plaintiff's request that "the defendants Lao Zheng and Xiao Zheng shall not obstruct the installation of elevators", I have always been confident, and I suddenly felt a lot of pressure.
Searching for Ahead
Judge Wei, you have to solve this matter for us!
I first dialed Lao Feng's phone, and when Lao Feng heard that it was a judge, he was emotional, and he told me the story of him and his neighbors.
It turned out that the plaintiff and the defendant were both retired employees of the same factory, and they had lived together up and down the stairs for decades. When I was young, we would go to and from work together, and when we were happy, we would take peanuts to the neighbor's house for a drink. Now it is a good day to catch up with the new era, the state installs an elevator in the old community for free, and Lao Feng, who lives on the sixth floor, and his neighbors are eagerly looking forward to installing the elevator in their own home, so that he and his old friends can go downstairs to play chess at any time, and they are not afraid to go upstairs to buy things and not be able to lift them upstairs. In the blink of an eye, the community staff took the form and went door-to-door to solicit opinions, and signed to confirm the agreement to install the elevator. Lao Feng signed the consent form first, and waited for the installation of the elevator with confidence. Then what made him feel chagrined was that this matter slowly stopped moving. Lao Feng couldn't hold his breath and asked the community, and the community told him that Lao Zheng and his son Xiao Zheng, who lived in 101, did not agree to sign, and everyone had to sign to install the elevator, and now the elevator of one unit cannot be installed.
Lao Feng and his old friends all went to Lao Zheng to discuss, wanting to ask why they didn't sign. Lao Zheng may be hindered by the relationship between his former colleagues, and may also have other unspeakable secrets, and he did not communicate with everyone positively, and let his son come forward to solve everything. In short, in the end, everyone had difficulty communicating and broke up unhappily. What makes Lao Feng and his neighbors even more unacceptable is that there are a total of four units in this building, and the elevators of the second, third and fourth units rise from the ground, and the smooth elevator glass windows reflect the sun's rays.
In the case of fruitless communication with many parties, a total of 10 households and 11 elderly people living on the second floor of a unit above the second floor sued Lao Zheng and Lao Zheng's son to the Fengtai Court as plaintiffs. "Judge Wei, you have to solve this matter for us!"
Rationale
We can't let ordinary people come to the court several times because of procedural issues!
In view of the fact that most of the parties in this case are elderly, after understanding the facts of the case and carefully reviewing the basic prosecution materials, I decided to sort out all the trial processes that may be involved. On the one hand, it ensures the integrity and accuracy of the subjects participating in the litigation. The plaintiff and the defendant are both elderly people, and if the parties come to the court several times again and again because the subject is wrong, they will not be able to do so. After I explained the relevant legal procedures to the plaintiff by phone, the plaintiff investigated with the housing authority and added another property owner of house 101 as the defendant. On the other hand, in response to the installation of elevators in old residential areas, we quickly read a large number of laws, regulations and precedents, and the facts and evidence points of the court review continue to become clear. At the same time, I also realized that the elevator installation company has the administrative examination and approval and other materials that the plaintiff and the defendant can not grasp, and the company's evidence and opinions are very important to ascertain the facts of the case.
Let's talk about it
If there is no consensus, it just can't be constructed!?
On the day of the trial, all 11 elderly plaintiffs appeared in court, but the defendant Lao Zheng and his wife did not appear in person, Xiao Zheng appeared in court on behalf of his parents, and the elevator installation company also appeared in court to respond to the lawsuit. The corridor of the Fangzhuang courtroom was full of accompanying family members, and the installation of the elevator made everyone "hang". The trial went smoothly, and the plaintiffs and elders abided by the court procedures and discipline very much, and expressed their eagerness to install the elevator. Defendant Xiao Zheng expressed the concern of 101 families about hidden dangers such as sewer blockage, radiation, and safety after the installation of elevators. The elevator installation company showed the court all the materials approved by the elevator, and the reason why there was no construction was because the 101 family did not sign and agreed, and the policy basis for applying for the installation of elevators required that all owners must agree, so the problem was stuck here. At the same time, the elevator installation company made it clear that the problems raised by Xiao Zheng can be solved, and if they are not satisfied, they can also negotiate and optimize, and they can try to meet the requirements of the owner. However, when the elevator was declared in 2021, it was based on the 2020 policy, which required "construction to start by consensus", and at present, because "there is no consensus, it is impossible to construct". I inquired about the payment of fees by the 101 owners after the elevator was installed, and with the blessing of sufficient pre-trial preparations, the case was closed at one time.
After sending all the parties away, I couldn't calm down for a long time, and my heart fell into a deep struggle. The plaintiff 11 elderly people live upstairs, some of whom need to use wheelchairs, and their children need to carry them on their backs to go up and down the stairs. They need elevators, and the state has invested a lot of manpower and material resources to build "suitable for the elderly" facilities, they live in a beautiful new era, and should enjoy the benefits of the new era. However, their claim was that the defendant should not obstruct the installation of the elevator, but at present, the defendant did not obstruct the installation of the elevator, and the defendant just did not sign the consent, and the failure to sign the consent was not illegal and did not mean that it was obstructed. According to this line of thinking, the plaintiff's claim is very risky. As for the defendant, the defendant had no demand for the installation of elevators, and there were reasonable concerns about whether the installation of elevators would have an impact on his family's life, so the defendant's failure to sign was not completely unreasonable, and it was not illegal to refuse to sign. The elevator installation company uses the financial resources of the state, and should implement the project in accordance with laws and regulations, and if it violates the relevant regulations, it may be held accountable, which is understandable. At this point in the trial, I actually have a rough conclusion in my heart. However, "refuting it" and mechanical justice must not be the result of my case.
Try more
If you are not afraid of slowness, you are afraid of standing.
On the one hand, I continued to study the large amount of material I retrieved and looked for a breakthrough. On the other hand, I decided to start with various departments in the territory and ask what obstacles exist to the installation of elevators in the building in this case. I asked the old office, asked the fire department, asked the street, asked the community, and asked the unit that can be found on the record form of the proposed elevator project, and everyone agreed that the elevator installation problem in this building is not an obstacle within the scope of the management authority of various departments, and I hope that the elevator installation company will install the elevator as soon as possible to solve the urgent needs of the elderly. Since then, all the crux of this case seems to have been concentrated in the elevator installation company.
Sleepless nights, my mind is spinning rapidly: on January 1, 2021, the "Civil Code" came into force, since the elevator installation company mentioned that the proposed elevator project filing form is based on the policy of 2020, is it not an "old yellow calendar" for the "Civil Code"? Since the problems raised by the 101 owners can be solved and their rights and interests can be protected, it is not a necessary condition for the 101 owners to sign or not to sign the elevator. I think that as a judge, you should not only correctly apply the Civil Code in your trial work, but also use your legal knowledge to guide the people and social subjects to correctly understand and apply the law and policies, promote the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity on the track of the rule of law, and use the Civil Code to protect the happy life of the people.
Therefore, I decided to do my best to help these elderly people, and at the same time encourage the elevator installation company to try to meet the needs of 101 owners and achieve a win-win effect for all parties. Starting from the "14th Five-Year Plan" and the report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, I also introduced the "Law of the People's Republic of China on the Construction of Barrier-free Environment", which was newly implemented on September 1, 2023, and talked about the elevator installation company's elevator installation tasks and social responsibilities as a state-owned enterprise. The legal staff thanked and understood me very much, and they promised to give feedback to the leaders of the unit and gave me the phone number of the company leaders. I directly dialed the phone number of the leader of the elevator installation company while the iron was hot, and communicated with the leader in detail, and finally the leader also sincerely promised me that I would study it again, hoping that the court would give me a certain amount of time.
On September 18, the Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and other four departments jointly issued the "Operation Guidelines for the Installation of Elevators in Existing Multi-storey Residential Buildings in Beijing (Trial)", which clarified that if the relevant units have the conditions for installing elevators, the streets (towns) and communities (villages) will start the work of soliciting the wishes of relevant owners, so that the work of soliciting the willingness of the owners will be started on the application of one household Article 278 stipulates that the owners of the exclusive part of the area accounting for more than two-thirds and the number of owners accounting for more than two-thirds of the number of owners participate in the voting, and the project construction application and confirmation work shall be started with the consent of the owners of more than three-quarters of the area of the exclusive part and more than three-fourths of the owners participating in the voting...... I carefully read the Operational Guidelines several times and determined that this was a good opportunity to move the case forward. The next day, I immediately called the leader of the elevator installation company, shared the content of the "Operation Guidelines" with him, and emphasized the policy support of the Beijing Municipal Government on the elevator installation project in the old community. This comrade also mentioned that the previous record form for the proposed elevator project was formed in 2021, which is not very consistent with the current policy, and I suggested to him: At present, the relevant administrative departments for the installation of elevators in a unit have agreed to install, and the current policy is more relaxed than the previous policy.
Two days later, I received a call from the elevator installation company, saying that the company, in accordance with the guidance of the court, had re-studied the provisions of laws and documents such as the Civil Code and the Operation Guidelines, and decided to take advantage of the opportunity of the introduction of the new policy to try construction after the National Day. I told the elevator installation company: first, the installation of the elevator must be safe construction process, if someone obstructs the installation, to fix the evidence through video, and contact the court in time; second, since it has been clearly mentioned in the trial that the problem that the 101 owner is worried about can be solved, then please maintain the greatest goodwill to meet the modification requirements of this household, do not let a small number of people sad; third, if you encounter any problems in the middle, you must actively negotiate to solve them, and if there are any problems that cannot be constructed, you must tell the court。 At the same time, I also pass the news on to the community so that they can assist if necessary.
Happiness landed!
After the National Day, I waited and looked forward to it silently in line with the principle of "no news is good news". At the end of November 2023, I finally couldn't hold my breath and called the 11 elderly plaintiffs' lawyers to inquire about the elevator installation. The lawyer happily told me: "Judge Wei, our elevator is about to be capped! The old people all said that they would ask you to withdraw the lawsuit after the cap! I didn't expect you to call, I will ask the old people for their wishes now, and we will withdraw the lawsuit now!" Subsequently, the lawyer clearly expressed his willingness to withdraw the lawsuit to the court.
On January 26, 2024, I received a call from 11 elderly plaintiffs, saying that their elevators were already usable, and they had made me a pennant, and they must hand it over to me. I expressed my gratitude on the phone, and told me that if you want to send pennants specifically, don't come with dozens of people like on the day of the trial. In the end, the old people selected the daughters of two of the families to come to the Fangzhuang court from Chengzhuang Road to give me a pennant.
In retrospect, if it is "dismissed", although this case is legally reasonable, it does not solve the problems of the common people, and may lead to more disputes and let the parties go through the procedure. And if we uphold fairness, do a little more, and actively perform our duties, we can make the country's policy of benefiting the people be implemented, which is the result that the parties are satisfied with, and it is also the result I want.
Contributed by: Fengtai Court
Editor: Yang Shixia and Wang Xi
Review: Zhang Zhongtao