Bidding on a premium phone number for millions, then refusing to pay, disrupting judicial order
Compiled from: Shandong High Court, Legal Daily
Case review
Starting at 10 a.m. on November 24, the Zhenjiang Economic Development Zone People's Court in Jiangsu Province held a public auction of the mobile phone number 18611999999 held by a criminal in a criminal case. The bidding announcement showed that the starting price for the number was 100 yuan, the deposit was 20 yuan, and the bidding period was 1 day. The remaining auction payment was required to be made within 7 calendar days, that is, before December 3. At the time, bidding for this judicial lot was extremely heated, with nearly 50,000 people watching, 720 people registering to bid, and in only about 18 minutes, the auction price reached 100,000 yuan. In about 33 minutes, it broke through 1 million yuan, with some bidders raising their bids by 200,000 yuan at a time. After that, the bidding price continued to soar substantially, prompting netizens to exclaim that it was “thrilling.”
At 10 a.m. on November 25, the auction concluded, with an individual named Xiao securing the mobile phone number for a final bid of 26,145,892 yuan, a staggering 261,400 times the starting price.
However, just as the 26.14 million yuan bid for a premium mobile phone number appeared to have come to an end, the Zhenjiang Economic Development Zone People's Court issued a notice on the afternoon of December 5, once again drawing public attention.
The notice stated that on November 7, the court published an auction announcement on Taobao's judicial auction platform, deciding to publicly auction the mobile phone number "18611999999" from 10 a.m. on November 24 to 10 a.m. on November 25. The winning bidder was required to pay the remaining auction balance before December 3. At 9:36 a.m. on November 25, Xiao Moumou won the bid at the highest price of more than 26.14 million yuan, but failed to pay the remaining auction balance on time. On December 3, during the court's investigation and verification process, Xiao Moumou explicitly refused to pay the remaining auction balance. Xiao Moumou's actions disrupted the order of the judicial auction. In view of the fact that Xiao Moumou is currently pregnant and it is temporarily inappropriate to take judicial detention measures, the court decided to impose a fine of 80,000 yuan on her.
Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China
Article 187
The acts of obstructing judicial personnel from performing their duties by violence, threats, or other methods as specified in Article 111, Paragraph 1, Item 5 of the Civil Procedure Law include:
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(5) Obstructing judicial personnel from conducting inquiries, seizures, freezes, deductions, auctions, or sales of property through violence, threats, or other means;
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[1] The author's perspective
After Xiao successfully won the bid but failed to pay the remaining auction price on schedule, his conduct constituted malicious bidding and disrupted the order of judicial auction. Under the above legal provisions, such conduct constitutes an act of obstructing judicial personnel in the performance of their duties, and the people's court may impose a fine or detention on him; if the conduct constitutes a crime, criminal liability shall be pursued in accordance with the law. In this case, the court imposed a fine of 80,000 yuan based on the actual circumstances, which was lawful and well-founded. It is worth noting that under the Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Auction and Sale of Property in Civil Enforcement by People's Courts, if the price of a re-auction is lower than the original auction price, the people's court may directly deduct the resulting price difference, expense losses, and the commission from the original auction from the deposit paid in advance; if the deposit is insufficient, the court may order the bidder to make up the difference, and if the bidder refuses to do so, compulsory enforcement may be applied.
