Judge Christine's office is decorated in a very elegant style.
But for Lu Ming, the memories of this place are not very good. The first time he was put in solitary confinement by the judge happened here.
Lu Ming and Smith sat in the same seats as last time. Opposite the desk sat Christine, who was graceful in a black judge's robe.
"Yesterday, I had afternoon tea with several justices of the High Court and spent the whole afternoon talking about this case."
Smith listened to this opening remark and suddenly felt something was wrong. Just as he was about to speak, Christine waved her hand to stop him.
"We didn't come to any conclusions from our discussion, but they were all very interested in the three test criteria proposed by Lawyer Lu. Some people also mentioned that they hope to introduce these three test criteria in similar cases. But returning to this case, given that the motion proposed by Lawyer Lu is not mature, I am still inclined to rule in favor of the plaintiff. However, as the subject, Baoyin Bank should not bear the responsibility for all the losses of the plaintiff. The scammer who has absconded is the subject of responsibility. I tend to hold Baoyin Bank to joint and several liability and need to compensate the plaintiff for 10% of the losses. In addition, it should bear the litigation costs."
Lu Ming was very well-behaved, sitting upright, even a little too well-behaved. He didn't say a word, just listened, looking like someone who had reformed after being locked up.
But after a quick calculation in his mind, he realized that Nadu Pictures was actually worth about 1.8 million yuan, and Bi Hanting's loss was between 800,000 and 900,000 yuan. He would bear 10% of the liability, which meant a maximum compensation of 100,000 yuan, and the litigation fees would not be much either.
In addition, as a result, Baoyin Bank's assets will be unblocked soon and are not completely cold. As long as the depositors are appeased, there is still hope.
Although he lost the lawsuit on paper, he actually won in the end, and he did not let the Wei family down.
As for his agency agreement, he could only get 20% of Baoyin Bank's shares if he won the lawsuit, so it didn't matter.
Christine stopped Smith from speaking again. She seemed very satisfied with Lu Ming's attitude and continued, "Of course, even if the defendant wins the case, it is not unreasonable. So, I will consider it carefully when I go back and refer to some cases. You can prepare well before the court hearing tomorrow. I hope you can have something new to convince me before I make the ruling."
Seeing that Christine had finally finished speaking, Smith immediately said, "Your Honor, I request that the court postpone the case again, because the Wei family father and son may have conspired with the fraudster to defraud my client, and I need time to find evidence!"
Christine frowned slightly: "Where is the evidence?"
Smith hesitated for a moment. "Just now, with Lawyer Lu present, the defendant proposed a settlement agreement with extremely generous terms, which was incredible. Therefore, I have reason to suspect that the other party is eager to..."
Lu Ming coughed and raised his hand cautiously: "Your Honor, this is just my client wanting to make amends to his friend for decades of friendship..."
Christine waved her hands and glared at Lu Ming. This guy finally had an excuse. He started pretending to be aggrieved since he entered the office.
"Then I hope you can find new evidence before tomorrow! And Lawyer Smith, according to the principle of child protection, you shouldn't mention to me the settlement agreement that has not been reached!" At this point, Christine couldn't help but look at Lu Ming.
Thinking about it again, Christine sighed softly, "Apply for an extension again? Now that I think about it, this case has been dragging on for too long. It's very unfair to Baoyin Bank and its depositors. Lawyer Smith, I hope you can convince me when the court opens tomorrow. I have begun to doubt the plaintiff's true intentions."
Smith was stunned. He could tell that the balance in Judge Christine's heart was tilting towards the defendant.
Originally, Judge Christine was prepared to reject the plaintiff's request for damages and only require the defendant to pay 10% of the joint and several liability.
To be honest, hundreds of thousands of yuan is just enough to cover the client's expenses for the case over the past few months, including the fees of the accounting firm and the entire law firm's support.
In other words, the person involved spends several months, time and energy, and in the end gets nothing.
Although the law firm made money, the client actually lost, so the result is not glorious at all.
Moreover, judging from the conversation, Judge Christine might break the rules and directly cite the young lawyer's motion to rule in favor of the defendant tomorrow
"Your Honor..." Smith wanted to say more.
"Okay, you guys go out. I still need to think about this case carefully. I also hope that you will have new discoveries tomorrow to truly convince me!" Christine waved her hand.
Smith and Lu Ming stood up, and Lu Ming walked behind. When he reached the door, Lu Ming turned around and gave a thumbs up, whispering, "Your Excellency is wise and powerful!"
Christine immediately stared.
Lu Ming slipped out early and quickly closed the door.
Christine's pretty face, which had been full of seriousness, showed a bit of helplessness, with a hint of smile at the corners of her mouth. She shook her head and picked up the file on the table to look at it.
…
Sitting in Wei Baozeng's car at the foot of the court steps, Lu Ming shook his head and sighed, "It's so hard to be a bootlicker!"
Wei Baozeng was dumbfounded and didn't understand what Lu Ming meant.
Looking at Wei Baozeng, Lu Ming said, "This is good news. The worst result may be that we lose the lawsuit, but we only need to pay Bi Dong a few hundred thousand yuan. It is also possible that we will win the case."
"Really?!" Wei Baozeng immediately widened his eyes.
Lu Ming nodded. "However, I still need to go back and prepare. Smith will definitely not sit still and wait for death. I'm afraid something unexpected will happen!"
Wei Baozeng nodded: "Okay, let's celebrate tomorrow!" He glanced at Lu Ming and said, "Qianxing, don't worry. Even if we are found to lose tomorrow, if the compensation is only a few hundred thousand, then we still win. The agency agreement between us will also take effect as if we won the lawsuit."
Lu Ming waved his hand: "No, we still have to strictly follow the agreement. I won't take credit for it."
Wei Baozeng showed admiration in his eyes and said no more, but it seemed that he already had some ideas in mind.
…
The next morning, Judge Christine had just sat down on the bench when the solicitor announced the opening of the court.
Smith stood up immediately and said, "Your Honor, I request that this case be postponed because we have new witnesses who prove that Wei Baozeng and his son colluded with the fraudster John Rooney and were accomplices in defrauding our client! Therefore, I hope that this case will be postponed until the criminal proceedings are over, and then the civil claim part of this case will be heard!"
Lu Ming stood up and said, "Your Honor, the Supreme Procuratorate has not yet decided whether to file a criminal case against my client!"
I received a call from Cheng Lingyu last night. There was a whistleblower, reporting that the Wei family was involved in conspiracy to commit fraud.
All I can say is that a lawyer’s connections are extremely important.
Looking at Smith, Lu Ming shook his head. He used to admire him, but it turned out that he was also a guy who would do anything to win.
The witnesses were more or less fake, and now Smith wanted to drag out the lawsuit. In this way, his side would suffer heavy losses. Therefore, in order not to drag the lawsuit any further, he believed that his side would propose the original settlement agreement to end the lawsuit.
On the judge's bench, Christine nodded, and when she looked at Smith, her eyes were extremely dissatisfied, "If that's the case, you can wait until the criminal case is filed, and then file a civil compensation lawsuit based on the results of the lawsuit!"
I looked at the plaintiff's seat and the defendant's seat, then at the gallery and the crowd of reporters behind it.
Christine said slowly, "It has been 153 days since the case was filed. It can be said that it has been a long time. This court agrees with the plaintiff. When the defendant checked the plaintiff's bank account, it was already a professional behavior. The two parties formed a legal relationship of professional consultation. However, the defendant did not expect that this consultation would cause huge economic losses to the plaintiff. The relevant direct responsible persons have either pleaded guilty or absconded. The defendant did not have the intention to directly deceive the plaintiff."
"If the defendant is found liable, it will put many professionals in danger. For example, accountants calculate accounts based on the data they have. If the original data is wrong, the results they calculate without their knowledge will also be wrong, causing trouble and losses to the parties involved. Although they are exempt from criminal liability, if the defendant in this case is held liable, these professionals will be held financially liable if they encounter similar cases in the future."
"At the same time, the defendant had good intentions and was helping a friend, so there was no negligence in his behavior..."
Lu Ming listened to Judge Christine explain in detail the basis of her decision before she made the verdict, and his heart gradually calmed down. It seemed that the defendant would be directly ruled as the winner.
As for her repeated emphasis on the defendant's "no behavioral negligence", she was referring to some situations where good intentions did not lead to bad results, such as non-professionals providing first aid, which caused the victim's injuries to worsen.
For example, in this case, if the Wei family had taken the initiative to help Bi Hanting check customer accounts, the result might have been different.
That's what case law is. In the absence of a jury, it mainly depends on the will of the judge. The same case may have very different results with different judges because there are not many written laws to refer to. We can only base our judgment on basic legal principles and refer to previous precedents. Different judges will have different understandings of previous precedents.
Of course, if the judge's reasons for the ruling are really far-fetched and cannot convince the other party's lawyer, then the losing party will inevitably appeal, and may even lead to serious complaints.
"Based on the above, I hereby declare that the defendant has not committed any fault in this case and dismiss all the plaintiff's claims!"
"Ding!" Judge Christine slammed the gavel hard, and the legal officer stood up immediately and said in a long tone: "Adjourn the court!"
Everyone stood up and watched Judge Christine walk down from the bench and return to the inner room through the side door.
Wei Baozeng stood up suddenly and was about to give Lu Ming a big hug, but Lu Ming had already walked away to talk to the clerk.
Wei Baozeng was stunned, not realizing that Lu Ming was afraid of being hugged in this situation. Everyone was very excited at this time, and his small body could not help but feel a little uncomfortable.
Smith, looking frustrated.
Bi Hanting turned around and walked out of the court. Wei Baozeng hesitated for a moment, then quickly squeezed through the crowd and caught up with him.