Niu Lei's Team at Zhong Lun Law Firm Won the Retrial Judgment of the Supreme People’s Court of PRC

The dispute resolution team of Zhong Lun Law Firm recently won two disputes over the sale of ship’s major engine equipment for a world-famous ship power equipment supplier in the Supreme People's Court of China. The lead partner of the two cases was Niu Lei, lawyer of Zhong Lun Shanghai office, and the co-counsels were Xu Tao and Mao Li.

The two cases were disputes between the same parties over the purchase and sale of major engine equipment of different ships. After the original ship owner cancelled the ship order, the Chinese shipyard filed a lawsuit for damages on the grounds that the major engine supplier provided equipment that did not meet the contract and the joint infringement of the original ship owner.

Before the two cases entered the retrial procedure of the Supreme People's court, the Qingdao Maritime Court and the Shandong Higher People's court made civil judgments of first instance and second instance respectively, ruling that the major engine supplier and the ship owner jointly and severally compensate the Chinese shipyard for a total of about 150 million yuan. The host supplier re-entrusted Zhong Lun dispute resolution team to appeal to the Supreme People's court. After Zhong Lun's efforts, the Supreme People's court ruled to bring the two cases to trial, and made a judgment in October 2016 after the retrial hearing, which supported all the claims made by Zhong Lun on behalf of the customer, and the judgment revoked the original judgments of first instance and second instance.

The retrial ruling and judgment of the Supreme People's court reflect the substantive and procedural justice of China's justice and enhance foreign customers' confidence in the Chinese market.