[6] Love at First Sight with the "Sea Palace" — The Ultimate Revelation of the "Sea Palace" Case (Serial 18)
Part Two: Chivalrous Lawyer: Legal Rescue of the "Sea Palace"
4. Love at first sight
Let's go back and continue telling the story of Guo certain and his 'Sea Palace' dispute case.
The entire 'Palace on the Sea' incident did not go as the government departments expected, with the 'Palace on the Sea' being forcibly demolished and the matter being 'resolved by demolition.' On the one hand, the forced demolition operation initiated on April 8, 2011, only destroyed the main parts of the upper structure of the floating island; for the foundation part of the floating island, which was structurally complex and very robust, the government departments still could not come up with a proper comprehensive solution, and the forced demolition operation came to a standstill. On the other hand, Guo, in a fit of anger, decided to take legal action to seek justice for himself and for the 'Palace on the Sea.' He went all out, consecutively submitting three administrative lawsuits to the Longgang District People's Court on March 24, April 12, and May 4 (Figures 77, 78, 79). The lawsuit claims corresponded respectively to the March 1 notice issued by the Longgang District Ocean Bureau to Haishang Elite Entertainment Co., Ltd. on cancelling the 'Approval for Application for Marine Aquaculture, Fishing, etc.,' the decision to revoke the 'Aquaculture Registration Certificate,' and the forced demolition of the 'Palace on the Sea' carried out by the Longgang District Ocean Bureau. Due to the institutional reform of the Longgang District government, the Ocean Bureau and other functional departments were merged into the Economic Promotion Bureau, so the defendant in the administrative lawsuits was uniformly listed as 'Shenzhen Longgang District Economic Promotion Bureau.' The Longgang District People's Court accepted the three administrative cases under the case numbers '(2011) Shenlong Administrative First Instance No. 45, No. 47, and No. 53,' respectively.
Out of a momentary sense of righteous indignation, he filed an administrative lawsuit against the government department, mainly to express a certain stance to the world. As for the outcome of the lawsuit, Guo had no confidence and was not prepared to fuss over the consequences too much, after all, he was facing the powerful Shenzhen municipal government. It's understandable, because he was not a legal expert himself. Even if he were a legal expert, what difference would it make? As mentioned before, Guo also used his personal network to seek out many legal experts and prominent lawyers, even desperate ones, he entrusted someone to find Beijing's expert on housing expropriation and demolition, lawyer Wang Cailiang. However, the 'Floating Palace' was not simply a matter of housing demolition compensation; faced with this seemingly baseless and 'unidentifyable' object, even the best experts were helpless and powerless. Though many 'enthusiastic' lawyers volunteered and approached him themselves, they either spoke irrelevantly or prioritized profit, making it difficult to win the favor and trust of Guo, who had the discerning eye of an artist.
On the other hand, filing an administrative lawsuit was also a way for Guo to negotiate with government departments. Guo still hoped that the government departments would eventually show mercy, withdraw the orders, and not impose the ultimate punishment on the 'Sea Palace.' To this end, Guo, on behalf of Shenzhen Haishang Elite Entertainment Co., Ltd., successively submitted the following: on April 15, 2011, to the Longgang District Ocean Bureau, an 'Application to Rectify the "Floating Sea Island" into a "Marine Fishing Park"'; on May 9, to the Shenzhen Ocean Bureau, a 'Request Report on Establishing the Shenzhen "Dongshan Marine Leisure Fishery Cultural and Creative Industrial Park"'; on June 3, to the Legislative Affairs Committee of the Shenzhen Municipal People's Congress, a 'Legislative Proposal to the Shenzhen Municipal People's Congress on the Urgency and Necessity of Improving Marine Laws and Regulations in Shenzhen Based on the "Sea Palace" Incident'; and on June 9, to the People's Government of Guangdong Province, namely Governor Song Hai, a 'Report on the Situation of Applying for the Rectification of the "Sea Palace" into a "Marine Fishing Park".' It can be said that, for the lifeline of the 'Sea Palace,' Guo was calling for petitions everywhere, begging for mercy, praying, and making offerings, but unfortunately, no one paid attention. The indifference of the government departments is truly disheartening!
Figure 77: The first page of the "Administrative Litigation Petition" submitted on March 24, 2011. The case number accepted by Longgang District People's Court is "(2011) Shen Long Fa Xing Chu Zi No. 45".
Figure 78: The first page of the second 'Administrative Litigation Petition' submitted on April 12, 2011, accepted by Longgang District People's Court under case number '(2011) Shen Long Fa Xing Chu Zi No. 47'.
Figure 79: The front page of the third "Administrative Litigation Petition" submitted on May 4, 2011, accepted by Longgang District People's Court with case number "(2011) Shen Long Fa Xing Chu Zi No. 53"
As the court date set by the Longgang District Court approached day by day, and no lawyer whom he deemed capable, trustworthy, and reliable had been found to represent him in court, Guo and his secretary Zhang Guangbin were both very anxious. At this time, by a stroke of coincidence, Zhang Guangbin happened to see Lawyer Wang Tengfeng on a program of Shenzhen TV that specifically interviewed some local legal experts in Shenzhen about the 'Maritime Palace' case. Lawyer Wang Tengfeng's clear stance and well-reasoned analysis immediately caught Zhang Guangbin's attention. After some twists and turns, Zhang Guangbin got in touch with Lawyer Wang Tengfeng, and the two of them subsequently met to have an in-depth discussion and exchange on issues related to the 'Maritime Palace' case.
Overjoyed and brimming with confidence, Zhang Guangbin returned to the company and immediately reported the situation to his boss, Guo, strongly recommending lawyer Wang Tengfeng. However, as a well-established and successful entrepreneur who had seen countless people, Guo perhaps found little unfamiliar to impress him and did not show much enthusiasm for the secretary’s recommendation. He carelessly asked, 'Is this person capable?' Seeing his boss’s lack of interest, Zhang Guangbin grew a bit anxious, because he subconsciously felt that lawyer Wang Tengfeng might be their only chance to win the lawsuit, so he directly said, 'Lawyer Wang Tengfeng said that the government’s enforcement does not follow procedures. They issue penalties without a hearing, revoking and reinstating two certificates arbitrarily, sometimes giving, sometimes taking away, acting inconsistently and at will. Such contradictory actions must involve mistakes in one way or another. Regardless of whether the mistakes are previous or subsequent, the government must bear responsibility for administrative violations!'
Hearing this, Guo felt a little tempted, 'Let him come to see me directly tomorrow.'
The boss's attitude put Zhang Guangbin in a difficult position. His original intention was to hope that the boss would personally contact Lawyer Wang Tengfeng as a sign of respect. Although they had only met once, his intuition told him that Lawyer Wang Tengfeng's unique insights might be the key to winning the case, and that Lawyer Wang would be the best person to turn the 'Palace at Sea' project around. But at the same time, he vaguely felt that Lawyer Wang might be a legal prodigy, and exceptional talents often have unique personalities, frequently being headstrong. If they accidentally offended Lawyer Wang, it could backfire. On the other hand, considering that his boss had recently been seeking out renowned industry experts nationwide, compared to them, Lawyer Wang Tengfeng's national reputation might be somewhat lesser. To be safe, Zhang Guangbin gave the boss Lawyer Wang Tengfeng's contact information, hoping that the boss would graciously reach out to him. Then he called Lawyer Wang himself and politely expressed his concerns. Unexpectedly, after detecting his concerns, Lawyer Wang laughed heartily over the phone and said, 'A lawyer’s responsibility is to uphold justice, speak out righteously, and maintain fairness and justice in the judicial system. Whether you ultimately hire me or not, I will still speak up. It is an undeniable fact that the government did have administrative procedural errors!' In fact, what Zhang Guangbin did not yet know was that Lawyer Wang Tengfeng had recently been under pressure for expressing views unfavorable to the government on the 'Palace at Sea' case in the Southern Daily and was currently challenging the Shenzhen Municipal Government Legal Affairs Office.
Feeling Wang Tengfeng's heroic integrity, Zhang Guangbin immediately dismissed all his concerns and proactively invited Lawyer Wang Tengfeng to come over the next day to meet with the boss, and Lawyer Wang Tengfeng readily agreed.
The next day, as promised, Lawyer Wang Tengfeng arrived at the office of Guo XX within the Fashion Group on the 23rd floor of the Greater China International Trade Plaza in Shenzhen. Having practiced for nearly thirty years and focusing on litigation, handling thousands of complex cases, Lawyer Wang Tengfeng had integrated all the litigation techniques he had accumulated and understood, elevating them to the level of litigation art. To this end, he established the 'Zhiming Litigation Art Research Center' at the law firm he led and also founded the 'Wang Tengfeng Litigation Art Network.' It can be said without exaggeration that today was the first meeting between 'corporate artist' Guo XX and 'litigation artist' Wang Tengfeng. However, neither of the two parties were aware of any special significance of this meeting. Despite enthusiastic recommendations from his secretary, Guo XX, who was always spontaneous, self-confident, and somewhat arrogant, remained skeptical about Lawyer Wang Tengfeng’s abilities. Meanwhile, Lawyer Wang Tengfeng treated his first meeting with Guo XX with the same seriousness he would give a regular, ordinary client.
Calling lawyer Wang Tengfeng a litigation artist is not only due to his mastery of various litigation skills reaching a state of perfection, seamless integration, and profound excellence, but also because in handling any legal dispute, he can perceive human nature, understand people’s hearts, and accurately grasp the psychology of all parties involved in litigation, then skillfully use strategic tactics to achieve the best results for his clients. This also includes accurately understanding the psychology of potential clients, being able to deeply move a potential client’s heart through just one meeting or even a few words, thereby earning their high trust. Therefore, in addition to providing a more comprehensive argument for Guo regarding the points he has already expressed in the media, lawyer Wang Tengfeng especially addressed Guo’s feelings of grievance and anger over the government’s forced demolition of the 'Sea Palace,' saying the following:
“The media's public opinion has uniformly attacked your 'Sea Palace', which is largely influenced by the abnormal social sentiment of today, and you can disregard that for now. However, over the years, you have been striving to obtain legal status for the 'Sea Palace', and the government departments have been at a loss due to the lack of clear legal basis. Nevertheless, the leaders of the three levels of government—Guangdong Province, Shenzhen City, and Longgang District—have repeatedly explicitly expressed their support for your pilot practice. Now, under the sway of irrational public opinion, the government, ignoring history and reality, acts without investigation and forcibly demolishes the 'Sea Palace'. Logically, this is merely self-preservation, lacking responsibility, and sacrificing your interests to absolve itself of accountability. In legal terms, this violates one of the basic principles of administrative law, namely the principle of protection of legitimate expectations. According to this principle, government departments and administrative agencies should act in good faith, and the public’s legitimate reliance on government actions should be reasonably protected to avoid unforeseen adverse outcomes. In legal terms, this is called loss of reliance interest. This is a major issue concerning legal stability, government integrity, and the protection of citizens' basic rights, and it is extremely important. To put it bluntly, the government leaders initially supported you and promised to complete the procedures once there was clear legal basis. It was precisely based on this trust in the government leaders that you invested large amounts of money, human resources, and material resources into building such a large-scale offshore floating island project. Now, the government is reneging solely due to fear of media hype and public pressure, completely ignoring their previous support and promises to you, and forcibly demolishing the 'Sea Palace' without any proper procedure. What the government has done is unreasonable, illogical, and illegal—this is beyond doubt. Moreover, you are fully justified in demanding substantial compensation from the government...”
These passionate and stirring words made Mr. Guo's blood boil. He couldn't help but raise his voice and say, "Lawyer Wang, you really spoke to my heart! We have always felt that we were in the right, but couldn't explain it clearly. Now, hearing you speak, I feel as if a light has dawned on me!"
Lawyer Wang Tengfeng slightly calmed his tone and said, 'Mr. Guo, this is just my initial impression, after all, I haven't thoroughly studied the relevant materials of this case, nor have I deeply understood the details of the case...’
Guo quickly said, "That's right, that's right. Lawyer Wang's insights are unique, and I suppose his skills are extraordinary. Originally, when I sued the government, it was just to vent my anger, to set the record straight for myself, and to seek an explanation. After hearing Lawyer Wang, since we seem to have a strong case, let's see if you can help us? Please first familiarize yourself with our case. Secretary Zhang, you must fully cooperate to help Lawyer Wang get familiar with the case materials and other details."
Lawyer Wang Tengfeng understood that his unique legal expertise and chivalrous spirit had completely impressed Mr. Guo, but he did not become blindly optimistic; instead, he felt an added weight of responsibility. He knew that next, he would have to undergo an extremely intense, close-quarters 'battle of dragons and tigers' test! And at this moment, there were only about ten days left until the court date...
Extended topic: Principle of Reliance Protection
The principle of protection of legitimate expectations is one of the basic principles of administrative law. This principle generally refers to the idea that when a party (an administrative counterpart) takes certain actions based on trust in the exercise of public authority (administrative actions), the legitimate interests generated by such actions should be protected. In other words, the principle of protection of legitimate expectations requires that administrative agencies act in good faith, and that individuals or organizations' legitimate reliance on administrative actions be reasonably protected, so as to prevent them from suffering unforeseen adverse consequences. The foundation of this principle lies in legal stability, government integrity, and the protection of citizens' fundamental rights. That is to say, if administrative agencies arbitrarily change actions they have already taken and act inconsistently, the legal order is difficult to maintain in a stable state, the government loses credibility, and citizens' fundamental rights cannot receive the protection they deserve.
The principle of trust protection may render administrative actions, which are formally illegal, legally effective. Therefore, the application of this principle must meet specific conditions: (1) the basis of the trust is certain actions of the administrative authority, including acts, omissions, and commitments, regardless of whether these actions are legal; (2) the administrative counterpart has trust in the administrative action, and this trust is manifested through certain actions taken by the administrative counterpart; (3) the administrative counterpart’s trust is legitimate and worthy of protection, and is not the result of improper methods such as malicious fraud, coercion, bribery, concealment, or false statements that led the administrative authority to take action. If these conditions are met, trust protection can be implemented in two ways: first, protection in place, meaning the administrative authority may not revoke, change, or abolish the actions already taken; second, compensation protection, meaning if, after weighing public interest against the administrative counterpart’s trust interests, the administrative authority deems it necessary to revoke, change, or abolish the actions already taken, it should provide appropriate compensation to the administrative counterpart for the loss of legitimate rights and interests caused thereby.
According to research by scholars of administrative law, the principle of protection of legitimate expectations originated in German administrative law and has been widely accepted in civil law countries. It is also similar to the 'principle of legitimate expectation' in UK administrative law and the 'principle of estoppel' in US administrative law. In our country, it is generally believed that the provisions of Article 8 of the Administrative Licensing Law reflect the spirit of the principle of protection of legitimate expectations: 'Administrative licenses legally obtained by citizens, legal persons, or other organizations are protected by law, and administrative organs shall not arbitrarily alter administrative licenses that have already taken effect.' 'Where the laws, regulations, or rules on which an administrative license is based are amended or abolished, or where the objective circumstances on which the approval of an administrative license is based undergo significant changes, administrative organs may, in accordance with the law, change or withdraw the administrative license that has taken effect for the need of public interest. If this causes property losses to citizens, legal persons, or other organizations, the administrative organs shall provide compensation in accordance with the law.'
(待续)
