Recently, Ou Xiuling and Xie Jiayi (intern) lawyers from Guangxi Tongwang (Liuzhou) Law Firm jointly handled a case of motor vehicle traffic accident liability dispute. The case involved a claim of about 10,000 yuan. The parties had no major disputes over the basic facts of the case, but there was a huge disagreement over the amount of compensation. According to the latest "Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China" implemented on January 1, 2022, the case is subject to the small claims procedure with a trial period of two months.

Case Brief ：

On December 10, 2021, Liu accidentally injured Wei while driving a motor vehicle. Liu sent Wei to the hospital for treatment as soon as possible and paid the relevant medical expenses in a timely manner. Afterwards, the two parties disputed the amount of compensation, and finally Wei sued Liu in court.

As the handling lawyer representing the defendant Liu, after receiving the court's response materials and learning that the case was subject to the small claims procedure, the case was discussed in the shortest possible time and a litigation plan was formulated as quickly as possible. The representing lawyer analyzed that Wei's litigation claims were significantly higher than the scope stipulated by law, and there were many flaws in the evidence submitted by Wei, which would seriously affect the determination of facts and the trial results. In addition, Liu suffers from illness and has financial difficulties. How to minimize Liu's financial burden has become an important consideration for the representing lawyer. After communicating with the other party many times and communicating with the presiding judge many times, the representing lawyer believes that it is more appropriate to resolve the dispute through mediation, which is conducive to quickly resolving Liu's worries so that he can return to normal work and life as soon as possible.

Representation Ideas and Process:

Finally, after several communications between the representing lawyer and the other party and the court, the other party's understanding of relevant legal aspects was facilitated, and under the mediation of the presiding judge, our party reached a consensus with the other party: our party transferred the compensation fee to the other party in court in one lump sum, and the other party issued a receipt in court. The compensation fee was reduced by about 1/2 compared with Wei's litigation claims, maximizing the interests of our party.

Lawyer's statement:

The newly revised "Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China" (implemented on January 1, 2022) improves the scope and method of application of the small claims procedure, and also simplifies the trial method of small claims cases. It distinguishes the trial period of the small claims procedure from that of the simplified procedure, stipulating that the trial period of the small claims procedure is two months, and at the same time stipulates that it can be extended by one month conditionally. As the representing lawyer of the parties, how to proceed from the applicable procedures of the case, adopt different litigation strategies for different case types, case content, and applicable procedures is a question worth considering. In this case, there is no dispute between the parties regarding the fact that the traffic accident occurred and the attribution of responsibility, but there is a huge disagreement on the amount of compensation. In order to resolve the dispute for the parties as soon as possible and protect the interests of our party to the greatest extent under the premise of legality and compliance, while minimizing the parties' litigation burden and economic burden, it has become the key to handling this dispute. Therefore, under certain conditions, quick handling and quick resolution is a good remedy for handling similar small cases.

Legal Links:

Articles 165 to 169 of the "Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China".