Guangdong Zhiming Law Firm's representation in a citizen-suing-official case won the top spot among Shenzhen's Top Ten Typical Administrative Cases
On July 16, 2019, the Shenzhen Court announced the top ten typical administrative cases of Shenzhen for the year 2018.The "Zhang v. Shenzhen Municipal People's Government Information Disclosure Case" represented by the Literary and Artistic Rights Protection Litigation Team of Guangdong Zhiming Law Firm has topped the list this time!
This case arose from an administrative lawsuit filed by our client, Zhang, against the Shenzhen Human Settlements and Environment Commission (a separate case) over environmental pollution caused by the government's newly launched power plant project. Because that case involved government information disclosure, this "case within a case" came about.
In 2015, Zhang submitted an application to the Shenzhen Municipal People's Government, requesting the disclosure of the "Research on Site Selection and Planning Design Conditions for the Shangkengtang Site of the Shenzhen Eastern Waste-to-Energy Power Plant (Eastern Environmental Protection Power Plant) (Draft for Review)" submitted by the Shenzhen Municipal Planning and Land Resources Commission to the Shenzhen Municipal People's Government, the written opinions of the Shenzhen Municipal Urban Planning Commission approving the aforementioned project and document upon review, and the written document of the Shenzhen Municipal People's Government approving the aforementioned project and document.
However, Zhang's reasonable application was rejected by the Shenzhen Municipal People's Government on the grounds that the content he requested to be disclosed was generated during internal communication, research, and review between the Shenzhen Municipal People's Government and the Shenzhen Municipal Planning and Land Resources Commission concerning matters related to the construction of the Shenzhen Eastern Waste Incineration Power Plant.Procedural information is not government information that should be disclosed.
The case was heard in the first instance.The judgment ruled against the Shenzhen Municipal People's Government.The court held that, with respect to the approval and implementation of major construction projects, the administrative organ shall disclose such information in accordance with the law. The judgment revoked the reply of the Shenzhen Municipal People’s Government refusing to disclose the information in response to Zhang’s application for government information disclosure, and ordered the Shenzhen Municipal People’s Government to render a new decision. The Shenzhen Municipal Government subsequently refused to accept the judgment and appealed to the Guangdong Provincial High People’s Court. Ultimately, our side achieved a complete victory when the Provincial High People’s Court issued a final judgment “dismissing the Shenzhen Municipal Government’s appeal and upholding the original judgment.”
The victory in this case reflects the profound skills and superb trial techniques of the Zhiming Institute's artistic rights litigation team in handling administrative cases. The litigation team of Zhiming Institute for Literary Rights Protection starts from the perspective of major public interests in society, focusing on the government's "approval information" and self proclaimed "process information", deeply studying administrative entity law and procedural law, and grasping the gap of the government's "mixing its own deliberation and decision-making behavior with the specific behavior of functional departments". At the same time, they bravely put forward that "the government's decision not to disclose is a deliberate misinterpretation of legal provisions, lacking due responsibility, and attempting to shirk responsibility and avoid contradictions". In the end, he won the support of two courts with his brilliant defense.
Behind the victory lies the highly responsible and courageous professional spirit of the Zhiming Institute's artistic rights litigation team in handling cases. Even in the face of the powerful opponent of the Shenzhen Municipal People's Government, they were able to achieve complete victories in both trials, which is rarely seen in lawyers representing administrative cases.This case has been listed as the top ten typical administrative cases in Shenzhen in 2018, which is another significant contribution of literary and artistic rights protection litigation in promoting the fairness of administrative trials.
