Honest merchant suffers millions in fake bank drafts; Zhiming lawyers bravely uphold justice.

[Lead Attorney: Jia Runlian, Zhao Min, Wan Zhengyu]

In June 2008, Jinjia Coal Industry Company reached an oral sales contract with Niu, the legal representative of Senma Materials Trading Company, agreeing that Jinjia Company would supply 3 tons of cleaned coal to Senma Company, with a total payment of 40 million yuan. Subsequently, although Niu paid part of the货款 in the form of 3,000 yuan in cash and a 5 million yuan "draft," when Jinjia Company attempted to cash the draft, the bank verified it as counterfeit. Later, although the police successfully recovered 450,000 yuan of the amount, Senma Company and Niu refused to pay the remaining 451 yuan, citing various reasons.

Subsequently, Jinjia Company entrusted Jia Runlian, founding partner of Guangdong Zhiming Law Firm, to file a civil lawsuit against Semir Company. With the assistance of her assistant, lawyer Wan Zhengyu, Jia Runlian proved the existence of the oral contract through a large amount of evidence generated during the transaction process, ultimately leading the court to accept the case. However, Niu chose to evade passively, attempting to make the court unable to find the qualified legal representative and thus unable to hold a hearing by "vanishing without a trace." Meanwhile, Niu secretly directed Semir Company to transfer assets, attempting to evade debts by "crossing the sea under cover of darkness."

Upon learning of this, Attorney Jia Runlian immediately assigned her assistant, Attorney Zhao Min, to initiate an investigation and successfully obtained a property preservation order. After discovering that Niu Mou and Semir Company had long been characterized by a high degree of personality confusion, Attorney Jia Runlian decisively applied to the court to amend the claims, instead asserting that the aforementioned transactions were the personal acts of Niu Mou, and that Niu Mou himself should be named as a co-defendant in the case. The court promptly approved Attorney Jia Runlian's application for amendment and issued a summons to Niu Mou.

Seeing that evasion was no longer possible, Niu had no choice but to grit his teeth and entrust a lawyer to appear in court and defend the case. In court, Niu's attorney continued to argue sophistically, stating: "Both Semir Company and Niu are victims of the forged bill incident, and the criminal Chen was already sentenced to life imprisonment in July 2010. Therefore, Semir Company and Niu are not obligated to pay the货款, and Jinjia Company should seek 'recovery of stolen goods' from the original party."

In response, lawyer Jia Runlian raised rebuttal arguments: "Firstly, since the bill of exchange paid by the defendant was a counterfeit, it proves that the defendant has not fully paid the purchase price. Therefore, the defendant Senma Company and Niu Mou must still bear liability for breach of contract and cannot evade their payment obligations on the grounds of being 'victims.' Secondly, the relationship between the plaintiff and defendant constitutes a 'sales contract relationship' rather than a 'bill relationship.' If Niu Mou accepted a counterfeit bill provided by another party, he should pursue losses from the criminal Yuan Mou based on the 'bill relationship.' However, this cannot be used to deny the payment obligations under the sales contract between the plaintiff and defendant. In summary, the defense lawyer's so-called 'recovery of stolen goods' argument is purely a distortion of facts and an unreasonable denial. Senma Company and Niu Mou should still continue to fulfill the payment obligations stipulated in the contract."

In the end, the court adopted the main arguments of attorney Jia Runlian, ruling that the defendant pay the plaintiff, Jinjia Company, 451 yuan for the goods, plus 1.2 million yuan in interest accrued over nearly four years due to the overdue payment, and bear the court litigation and preservation fees of 5.4 yuan. The case concluded with a complete victory for the plaintiff, Jinjia Company, represented by attorney Jia Runlian. (The surnames above were randomly selected.)