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Text | Zhou Li, Han Jing
In Zhangjiakou City, the ancient city outside the Saiwai, there is an important transportation town that runs through Beijing, Tianjin, Jin, Mongolia and other places - Shalingzi. The Shalingzi People's Court of the People's Court of Zhangjiakou Economic and Technological Development Zone in Hebei Province is located here.
In recent years, the Shalingzi Court has adhered to the active performance of its duties, given full play to the role of trial functions, turned "governance" into "wisdom", adhered to the combination of autonomy, rule of law, and rule of virtue, and achieved grassroots governance to achieve "no contradictions, no accidents, and no lack of services".
In April 2024, the judge of the Shalingzi People's Court of the People's Court of Zhangjiakou Economic and Technological Development Zone, Hebei Province, carried out mediation work on both parties in the mediation room Photo by Xu Jie
Cash in on the spot
Mass disputes "handled at one time"
"My mother is old, and the smell of dampness at home is unpleasant, which has a great impact on her body." Aunt Sun faced Hu Zhanfei, a police officer from the Shalingzi Court who came to mediate, and said with tears in her eyes: "He refused to return my rent and deposit without going through legal procedures, and the family's economic conditions are very difficult. Uncle Fan spread his hands and said to Hu Zhanfei: "The lessee should bear the maintenance costs during the lease period of the house, and the lessor is not obliged to bear this cost." ”
In 2023, in order to take care of her elderly mother, Aunt Sun rented an apartment in Uncle Fan's name, but with the onset of winter, Aunt Sun found that there was always an unpleasant musty smell in the house, and the old mother's rheumatism was getting more and more serious. After careful inspection, Aunt Sun confirmed that it was caused by the leakage of the heating pipe, and after she informed the landlord Uncle Fan, she found maintenance workers to overhaul the pipes, but many times of maintenance did not fundamentally solve the problem of dampness and musty smell of the house. However, Uncle Fan refused to return Aunt Sun's rent and deposit on the grounds that the wooden floor was damaged. Aunt Sun had no choice but to sue her to the Shalingzi Court.
Considering that the two parties "insisted on their own words", which might further intensify the conflict, Hu Zhanfei adopted a "back-to-back" mediation method to repeatedly explain the law and reason to both parties and analyze the pros and cons. In the end, the two parties reached a mediation agreement, and Uncle Fan returned Aunt Sun's rent and deposit on the spot, and Aunt Sun also said that she would bear part of the maintenance costs. At this point, the two sides of the "grudge" finally shook hands and made peace.
"Most of the water leakage cases need to start the judicial appraisal procedure, which is expensive and time-consuming, which will not only increase the time cost and economic cost of both parties, but also is not conducive to quickly solving the problem of water leakage in the house, but will increase the burden of litigation for the parties." Hu Zhanfei said, "Through mediation, both sides are willing to take a step back, but they can resolve such disputes relatively quickly, and truly achieve the good effect of 'the case is closed, and the government is harmonious'." ”
Benefit enterprises and facilitate the people
Enterprise-related disputes "handled nearby"
"If it weren't for the help of the police officers of the Shalingzi Court, I am afraid that the conflict between us would have further intensified." The person in charge of an automobile service company in Zhangjiakou said.
In July 2023, the plaintiff, an automobile service company in Zhangjiakou, provided motor vehicle leasing services to the defendant Gao in accordance with the contract. After the expiration of the lease, the defendant Gao failed to fulfill his payment obligation for a long time. In order to protect its legitimate rights and interests, in January 2024, the plaintiff went to the "Key Project Judicial Escort Cloud Studio" of Shalingzi Court in Dongshan Industrial Park to seek legal help.
In order to better find a balance between the interests of both parties, Liu Cunjuan, a police officer of the Shalingzi Court, invited Chang Mou, president of the Zhangjiakou Automobile Chamber of Commerce, to participate in mediation. Chang and police officer Liu Cunjuan adopted a "face-to-face" negotiation method to explain the law and reason to both parties, and finally the two parties reached a mediation agreement, and the case was satisfactorily resolved.
In order to further optimize the legal services for auto trade disputes and give full play to the effect of litigation source management, in May 2023, the Shalingzi Court established the first "Auto Trade Dispute Legal Service Center" in Zhangjiakou City, and set up a "Key Project Judicial Escort Cloud Studio" in Dongshan Industrial Park, so that in the event of auto trade disputes, it can quickly intervene and resolve conflicts on the spot, ensure the healthy and stable development of "stock" enterprises, and put "incremental" enterprises into operation with peace of mind, and make every effort to improve the satisfaction of the law-based business environment.
Settle the dispute
Estate division "on-site office"
"As a grassroots judge, we must go out of the courtroom, actively perform our duties, transform 'sitting in the court to handle cases' into 'door-to-door service', apply the concept of rule by virtue to grassroots governance, give full play to the mediation power of grassroots mediators, and resolve conflicts outside the lawsuit, in the people, and at the source." Judge Yan Haoyun of the Shalingzi Court said.
The 75-year-old Mrs. Zhang, who was paralyzed in bed, lost her son in her later years, and the division of her son's estate made Mrs. Zhang and her daughter-in-law Wang feel suspicious, and the relationship between the two became more and more tense. Since she was unable to go to the court in person to file the case, Mrs. Zhang entrusted her brother Li to submit the case filing materials, and Wang believed that this was not Mrs. Zhang's true intention.
After the case is accepted, how to bridge the emotional gap between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law while resolving the dispute has become an important task for the judge in charge of the Shalingzi Court. To this end, Yan Haoyun contacted Wang, a cadre of the village committee in the jurisdiction, to go to Mrs. Zhang's house many times to find a breakthrough point for resolving the conflict.
During the investigation, Yan Haoyun learned that Mr. Zhang had a good relationship with Wang at the same time, and the conflict between the two parties was mainly the division of his son's estate. "I have consulted with a lawyer, and as the first-order heir, I deserve to inherit my son's estate!" Mrs. Zhang, who was lying on the bed, said angrily. "I didn't divide the inheritance because I wanted to fulfill my obligation to support, after Zhang's death, there was a lack of source of income, and my mother-in-law had no one to take care of her, this amount of money could allow my mother-in-law to spend her old age in peace, but I didn't expect it to cause a misunderstanding of my mother-in-law." When Wang heard this, he couldn't help but burst into tears. In the end, under Yan Haoyun's patient mediation, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law released their previous suspicions, untying both the "law" knot and the "heart" knot.
"Every family has a scripture that is difficult to read." Family disputes must be "prescribed to the right medicine" in order to "cure the disease". In the mediation of family disputes, the Shalingzi Court adheres to the principle of adapting measures to the circumstances of the case, taking into account the law, reason and emotion, and helps the masses solve urgent, difficult, and longing problems with all their hearts.
"In the next step, the Shalingzi Court will continue to adhere to and develop the 'Fengqiao experience' in the new era, always put the non-litigation dispute resolution mechanism at the forefront, and at the same time establish a closely linked mediation mechanism with local towns, streets and villages, so as to play a strong and effective 'combination punch' of litigation source management, and effectively achieve 'grassroots dispute resolution at the grassroots level'." Duan Yinfeng, president of the Zhangjiakou Economic Development District Court, said.
Cover and table of contents of this issue
China Trial, Issue 11, 2024
China Trial News Semi-Monthly, No. 345
Editor/Min Sun