216: Is the other person crazy...Oh, it's Zhou Yun, then it's okay

At Anping City Intermediate Peoples Court, Zhou Yun had already arrived with the relevant documents.

It's better to file a lawsuit sooner rather than later, otherwise, waiting will take too much time.

This time, the lawsuit was against the Hexi Province branch of Guotai Insurance Company, whose branch was located in Anping City.

There was actually another issue here, which was whether a branch company could be a subject of civil litigation, meaning whether it could be a defendant.

Many people may have seen some legal popularization online, which would tell you that a branch company does not have legal personality and cannot be a defendant.

The legal basis is Article 13 of the new "Company Law": A company may establish branch companies. A branch company does not have legal personality, and its civil liabilities shall be borne by the company.

In the old "Company Law," this provision was Article 14, but the core meaning was that a branch company does not have legal personality.

However, Article 51 of the "Civil Procedure Law" stipulates: Citizens, legal persons, and other organizations may be parties to civil litigation. A legal person shall conduct litigation through its legal representative. Other organizations shall conduct litigation through their principalPerson in charge.

Article 52 of the "Supreme Peoples Court's Interpretation on the Application of the Civil Procedure Law" stipulates: Other organizations as stipulated in Article 51 of the Civil Procedure Law refer to organizations that are legally established, have a certain organizational structure and property, but do not possess legal personality, including:

(5), branches of legal persons that are established according to law and have obtained business licenses.

You see, this is the problem. The Company Law says that a branch company does not have legal personality, but the Civil Procedure Law and the Supreme Peoples Court's judicial interpretation say that a branch company with a business license can be a party to litigation.

So, whose word should you take? In practice, there have been too many disputes over this issue, because there are reasons for every argument.

The "Civil Trial Practical Q&A" compiled by the First Civil Division of the Supreme Peoples Court also states that a branch company with a business license can be a party to litigation.

However, the lower Courts still dispute it, and if they don't accept your case, there's really nothing you can do.

After all, branch companies are generally local, so you can just file a lawsuit locally. But if you can't sue the branch company, you have to go to the headquarters to file a lawsuit, which invisibly increases a lot of litigation costs.

Moreover, if the location is different, the Court will be different. Note that I am talking about the Court here.

Anyone who has been involved in a lawsuit basically knows what this sentence means. Of course, I am not saying there is local protectionism or anything like that; our Courts strictly judge cases according to the law.

Lawyer Zhou naturally wasn't afraid of disputes, but he didn't want to drag out the battle too long, so he had one idea: try to get the case accepted directly here.

At the Anping City Intermediate Peoples Court filing window, he still waited in line as usual. Soon it was his turn, and Zhou Yun handed the relevant documents to the staff inside.

Evidence was actually easy to obtain: the three-yuan payment record from the day of medical treatment, and the insurance contract, which could be directly retrieved from the app.

There was also a screenshot of him delivering an order before he fell unconscious. This also had to be included. If you have any rider friends, you can take a look; generally, disclaimers will have a clause like this: This policy only covers insurance liabilities during the delivery service process. The delivery service process refers to the insured's actions of picking up and delivering meals after accepting an order on the platform, as well as within 60 minutes after the order delivery is completed.

In other words, if you cannot prove that you were within the scope of this regulation at the time, you will not receive compensation if an accident occurs.

Therefore, when filing a lawsuit, all of these must be proven.

Then there was the insurance company's industrial and commercial information, the name and contact information of the principalPerson in charge, and the medical death certificate and medical records issued by the hospital.

This information about the insurance company could prove that there was a clear defendant, and combined with the insurance contract and payment record, it could prove that both parties had signed an insurance contract and paid the fees.

The delivery screenshot proved that he was in the process of delivery service.

The medical death certificate is easy to understand; it's to prove that the person died, and combined with the medical records, it can prove why the person died.

The last piece of evidence was the weather conditions and perceived temperature on the day of the incident. This was the key evidence for Zhou Yun's lawsuit!

He wanted to prove that Duan Liwei's death had a causal relationship with the external temperature, because the high external temperature caused the heatstroke and death. This external temperature was an external factor, so it should be considered an accidental injury rather than a disease!

This way, a complete chain of evidence could be formed. For general accidental injury civil lawsuits, basically, if you hire a lawyer, this is the set of procedures. Some more particular lawyers might also add some cases from their case library, or some emotional elements.

For example, this person was the pillar of the family and owed a lot of money to the hospital, etc. These things can also influence the judge, because the law is about maintaining stability, right? Given his family's current situation, they should at least be given some money, right?

Of course, these are just the chain of evidence. The actual Court debate is another matter. The core point of contention is only one: can heatstroke be considered a disease here?

Zhou Yun was thinking about these things when he saw the staff inside raise their heads as if to say something, and he immediately said, "Yes, I am Zhou Yun. You don't need to ask again."

The staff member was immediately choked up. She had just seen Zhou Yun listed as the entrusted agent and subconsciously raised her head to ask, but was preempted by him.

"So it really is Lawyer Zhou. Hello. I see the defendant in your case is a branch company, right? This..."

Before the other party could finish, Zhou Yun said, "I don't think there's any dispute about the branch company. After all, your Supreme Peoples Court has issued a document stating that a branch company with a business license can be a party to litigation."

Preemptively, he brought out the regulations first, so the other party couldn't bring up other issues.

The staff member hesitated for a moment and said, "But Lawyer Zhou, here at our..."

"Do you have your own Civil Procedure Law here?" Zhou Yun said with a laugh, "Just kidding. Please report to your leader. The family of the party in this case is very pitiful, so please try to accept the case."

Sometimes a joke is not just a joke. Zhou Yun believed that the other party's leader should understand. His meaning was that if they didn't accept the case here, then he would say in a video that Anping City Court had its own Civil Procedure Law.

Although this sentence has become a meme now, some things can be said as a meme, but if they are taken to a higher level, it's a different concept.

Right now, I'm targeting the insurance company. If you drag your feet on this issue, then I'll be targeting you!

Soon, this situation was reported to the chief judge of the filing division, who turned green upon hearing it.

"Zhou Yun? Did he really say that? Are all the documents complete? If they are, just accept it. Why bother with this!"

If the defendant later feels dissatisfied and wants to dispute it, that will be a matter for the trial division. For now, the case must be accepted.

In this day and age, you can lack other skills, but you must know how to pass the buck.

Twenty minutes later, Zhou Yun walked out of the Intermediate Court. Don't tell me, the effect was better than expected. The case was accepted on the spot...

Both sides had made progress. Now it was just a matter of waiting. A settlement with the insurance company was basically impossible; it was over 600,000 yuan. Even if the insurance company had money, it wouldn't spend it like that.

The main thing was to see how Hongquan Company reacted, after all, if it could truly be recognized as a work-related death, the one-time compensation for a work-related death was not a small amount.

At the same time, in the Imperial Capital, Hongquan Company's legal department received a call from the Changhua District Arbitration Committee.

"What? A rider has filed an arbitration with us to confirm the labor relationship? Isn't this crazy... Is the Lawyer the Zhou Yun from online?"

"Oh, please wait a moment, I'll report to my leader..."