The government reneged and forcibly demolished the factory; the merchant sought help from Zhiming and ultimately won a complete victory.
【Lead Lawyers: Wang Tengfeng, Liu Jianhua】
In 2005, Shenzhen Vodafone Industrial Co., Ltd. responded to policy incentives and established a fruit production base in a district of Huaihua City, which began operation in 2006. However, by 2010, the Huaihua City government decided to requisition the land of the fruit production base for commercial development and rejected Vodafone's proposed compensation standard of 1,300 yuan per square meter based on market prices. During the dispute, the district urban management bureau of Huaihua City forcibly demolished the fruit production base in October 2013, claiming it was an "illegal structure." Consequently, Vodafone entrusted lawyers Wang Tengfeng and Liu Jianhua from Guangdong Zhiming Law Firm, under the guidance of lead lawyer Wang Tengfeng, to file an administrative lawsuit against the district urban management bureau with the Huaihua Intermediate People's Court.
In this case, the defendant, the district Urban Management Bureau, raised a rebuttal, arguing that the plaintiff, Vodafone, was not qualified. In response, lawyer Wang Tengfeng argued that the defendant's claim, aside from the signed agreement, lacked any other supporting evidence and was merely an attempt to confuse the issue.
Meanwhile, lawyer Wang Tengfeng also argued that the land acquisition in this case was not for public interest but for commercial use, which cannot be forcibly expropriated according to law. Moreover, the demolition office only offered a compensation standard of 240 yuan per square meter, far below the 1,300 yuan per square meter standard for similar buildings. In summary, this case essentially involved the district urban management bureau "cooperating" with the demolition office by preemptively demolishing under the guise of "forced demolition of illegal structures." This constitutes an illegal act compounding errors. Therefore, he urged the court to confirm the illegality of the district urban management bureau's series of actions and to compensate the plaintiff, Vodafone Company, for its economic losses.
Ultimately, the Huaihua Intermediate People's Court withstood significant pressure and adopted lawyer Wang Tengfeng's legal opinions. In mid-to-late 2014, it issued a judgment confirming the illegality of two administrative actions by the district Urban Management Bureau against Vodafone: the "order to demolish" penalty and the "forced demolition." It also ordered the district Urban Management Bureau to take remedial measures for Vodafone in accordance with the relevant regulations in effect at the time of the demolition of the involved equipment and buildings. Thus, under the guidance of lawyer Wang Tengfeng, the plaintiff Vodafone achieved a complete victory.
