Client Conceals Truth, Faces Danger; Lawyer Stays Calm, Wins Case

In mid-2013, Chen agreed to borrow 600,000 yuan from Li, using a property of Chen's as collateral. However, Li did not provide the loan to Chen afterward but attempted to exercise the mortgage rights, hindering the sale of Chen's property and causing financial losses. Consequently, Chen entrusted the Wang Tengfeng lawyer team from Guangdong Zhiming Law Firm to sue Li, with team lawyer Zhang Yong handling the case.

Previously, Chen only provided the signed "Mortgage Loan Contract" as evidence. However, during the evidence exchange, Zhou's attorney argued that Chen borrowed 600,000 yuan from Li and mortgaged his property because his friend Zhang could not repay a 600,000 yuan debt to Huang. Since Huang also owed Li 600,000 yuan, Li and Zhang agreed to directly offset the 600,000 yuan that should have been lent to Chen against Huang's debt to Li, and presented a "Statement" signed by Zhang to confirm this situation.

Faced with this sudden revelation, Chen privately apologized to lawyer Zhang Yong. However, after analysis, Zhang Yong and lead lawyer Wang Tengfeng believed that the "Statement" signed by Zhang still had many issues. First, although Li claimed she had repaid Zhang's 600,000 yuan debt to Huang, she had no evidence of delivering or offsetting the amount to Huang, nor proof that Huang owed Li an equivalent loan. Second, the "Mortgage Loan Contract" signed by Chen and Li made no mention of Zhang's debt, only stipulating that Li would deliver the loan to Chen. Therefore, Zhang Yong argued that the evidence submitted by Li was insufficient to prove she had delivered the 600,000 yuan loan to the plaintiff, and Zhou's failure to disburse the loan on time, violating the contract, had already made the contract's purpose unattainable. Thus, Zhang Yong insisted on the original evidence and reasoning, continuing to request the judge to lift the mortgage.

Although the trial process was intense, lawyer Zhang Yong closely examined the performance of the Mortgage Loan Contract itself, repeatedly scrutinizing and arguing against the various insider details and evidence presented by Li, pointing out parts that lacked probative value, forcing the judge to set aside distractions and focus on the Mortgage Loan Contract between Chen and Li. Ultimately, the presiding judge, based on the contract's own performance, ruled in favor of Chen, ordering Li to cooperate with Chen in completing the mortgage release procedures within a set time. Thus, this mortgage loan contract ended with Chen's narrow victory. (The above surnames are randomly selected)