Case Represented by Dacheng Selected as Model for Kunming Intermediate People’s Court’s Sunshine Judicature Initiative

A contract dispute case (Kunming Film Co. Ltd v. Yunnan Shengshi Tongjia Real Estate Development Co., Ltd.) in which Dacheng’s Kunming-based attorneys represented the appellant, was selected by Kunming Intermediate People’s Court as a model case for its “Sunshine Judicature Initiative”.
 
On September 27, 2012, the case was tried publicly at the grand courtroom of Xishan District People’s Court of Kunming. Over 200 deputies of the people’s congresses, members of the political consultative committees and people from all walks of life heard the trial and a number of provincial- and municipal-level news media conducted on-the-spot report of it.
 
During the three-hour court session, attorneys from the opposing parties had a heated debate over issues of whether the property developer violated contract terms, whether such violation caused damage to the film company and how the damage was to be calculated. Following courtroom inquiry, presentation of oral arguments and the collegiate panel’s assessment, the chief judge announced in court that the first instance judgment ordering the property developer to pay the film company RMB1.1mln as liquidated damage and compensation be maintained. After the trial, reporters interviewed attorneys He Haojun and Xu Pengwei. Previously, the two had argued for another case which was also selected as a model case for the province’s “Sunshine Judicature Initiative”.
 
The Kunming-based attorneys’ participation in the court’s initiative provided the public opportunities to get involved in court hearings and thus promoted the openness and transparency of the court trial. Such initiative helps promote the principle of Socialist rule of law and boost the court’s judicial credibility and authority.