Justice System: I Litigate for the Whole City

Chapter 44 : Before the Twenty-Sixth

At 8:40 on the morning of January 22, six people stood in line at the security checkpoint by the back gate of the District Peopleʼs Court. She hugged the case file to her chest and sent it through the machine. The machine beeped, and the bailiff told her to take out her key ring. The wind on the steps came from the west, snapping the flag in the courtyard against its pole with a sharp crack.

Lao Song didnʼt go in. He sat on the edge of the flower bed west of the main gate, the little notebook spread open on his knee, pencil pinched between his fingers.

”Youʼre not going in?”

”Names I can recognize. Paper, I canʼt.” He lifted the notebook a fraction. ”Courtʼs at nine. Iʼll put down nine.”

The Second Courtroom was on the second floor. The door stood open, the radiators just beginning to warm, and the row of chairs along the wall gave off a smell of baked dust. He Xiufen and Luo Cheng sat in the gallery. He Xiufenʼs cloth bag lay across her lap, the stiff edge of a Proof of Service poking halfway out of the mouth of the bag. Deng Wei sat at the plaintiffʼs table, the stack of powers of attorney and representative nomination letters resting on his knee, its corners aligned for the third time. Ma Jianjun rested both hands just past the edge of the table, the document folded in quarters inside his coat bulging through the padded cotton.

Three chairs sat on the bench. Judge Cheng took the middle, a male judge to his left, and on the right a Lay Assessor in his fifties with graying hair, pen in hand, cap still on. The court clerk set up the computer, and the printer spat out a sheet, then pulled it back in.

”Court is in session.” Judge Cheng tapped once.

[Thud. Four chairs, three empty. Empty chairs donʼt answer, and they donʼt acknowledge debts—todayʼs account gets settled with the one who showed up.]

Judge Cheng confirmed identities. At Defendant 1ʼs table, Lu Jibai and Lü Hang stood to submit their authorization papers. Lü Hang placed the two documents at the corner of the table, edges aligned.

”Defendants 2, 3, and 4.”

”After lawful summons by this court, they have failed to appear without just cause.” Judge Cheng said. ”The summonses, Proofs of Service, and posted photographs are appended to the file. Trial in absentia, noted in the hearing record.”

She raised her hand.

”Presiding Judge, I move that three matters be noted. Defendant 2 and Defendant 3 still have Simplified Deregistration notices posted on the Public Information Registry as of today—the Public Notice Period expires today. Defendant 4 is Revoked but Not Deregistered, still on the rolls. And on all three Proofs of Service, the signature lines are blank.”

”Noted.” Judge Cheng said. ”Plaintiff, state your Litigation Claims.”

She stood up the sheet at her hand and read aloud.

”One: confirm that an Employment Relationship exists between the twenty plaintiffs and Defendant 1. Two: the four defendants shall jointly pay the remuneration and Overtime Deductions listed in the Schedule, totaling thirty-six thousand four hundred and six yuan. Three: court costs to be borne by the defendants.”

”Defendant 1, state your defense.”

”Our Defense Opinion has been submitted. Two points in summary.” Lu Jibai said. ”One, no Employment Relationship exists between the respondent and the plaintiffs. The respondent is not the responsible party in this case, and we move to dismiss the claims against the respondent. Two, Defendant 4ʼs business license has already been revoked. It did not participate in arbitration, and the arbitration prerequisite has not been satisfied.”

”Plaintiff has a comment. For the record.”

”One line.” She said. ”In those two points, he didnʼt say a single word about ʼlogs,ʼ ʼdispatch,ʼ or ʼaccounts.ʼ”

Lu Jibai didnʼt take it up. He spun the fountain pen once between his fingers, then stopped it, nib down.

Judge Cheng turned a page. ”Court investigation. The plaintiff filed an Application for Order to Produce Documentary Evidence on January 10. Defendant 1 submitted a written response on the 13th. Both will be handled together today. Plaintiff, what are you seeking.”

She moved the pages of the application to the center of the table.

”Three items. One: the backend access, operation, and backup generation logs for the twenty accounts at issue. Two: the account activation and dispatch authorization records for those twenty accounts. Three: the platformʼs data deletion rules, and the application, approval, and execution records for the deletion carried out on December 10.”

”What for.”

”To confirm one thing.” She said. ”That the records from July 18 existed on its machines. When they disappeared, and who made them disappear.”

Judge Cheng nodded and looked across. ”Defendant 1.”

Lu Jibai turned the written response to its first page.

”Three points. First, the scope the applicant has set has no boundary. ʼBackend access, operation, and backup generation recordsʼ points to all operational data on the respondentʼs servers, which contains the personal information of over a million riders and users. That is a Trade Secret, and the respondent has no obligation to disclose it to an outside party. Second, the relevant operation records have already been deleted in accordance with the respondentʼs data management rules. Third, the backup recovery files from Yunfan Cloud are not originals. Their source and integrity cannot be verified, and they cannot be used to establish that the logs ever existed.”

He left a breath between each of the three points.

She listened, then set down the pen in her hand.

”First point. Iʼll narrow the scope myself.”

The courtroom went quiet for a moment. The Lay Assessor looked up at her.

”Twenty accounts at issue, three time windows: July 18, October 16, and December 9 through 11. Three days, twenty accounts, one machine. For those three windows, I want the access, operation, and backup generation records—timestamp, acting entity, approving person. I donʼt care what the words in the logs say. Second point: on the Trade Secret and third-party information, I already wrote it in my application. No public examination of evidence. The documents go to the court for review only, not shown to any outside party.”

She pushed the paper forward an inch.

”Narrow it further, and thereʼs nothing left to look at.”

[Thud. Narrow the scope enough, and ”did it exist” has only one answer left.]

Lü Hangʼs pen point hovered half a second over his paper. Lu Jibai reopened the written response heʼd closed.

”Third point. Say it once more.” She pulled out the three-page response and flipped to item two. ”Item two of this response. Iʼll read it: ʼThe operation records for the accounts at issue are now more than ninety days past their creation. They objectively no longer exist, and the respondent has no way to submit them.ʼ Thatʼs what it wrote on the 13th of this month.”

She pressed her finger to that line.

”On the 19th of this month, at Evidence Exchange, about the same matter, its words were ʼalready deleted in accordance with the platformʼs data management rules.ʼ Judge Cheng, on the record, you noted the inconsistency in its statements and ordered it to provide a written explanation within seven days: whether the logs ever existed; when they were deleted, under what rule, and upon whose application, approval, and execution.”

She looked up.

”Today it says again: the relevant operation records have been deleted in accordance with the rules.”

”Correct.” Lu Jibai said.

”Then what is that December 10 deletion Work Order in the middle of all this. The approver line: Wang Yuhai. By its own written rules, July 18 plus ninety days is October 16—something that should have been gone on October 16, somebody was still processing on December 10.”

”That Work Order is a deletion order, not a log.” Lu Jibai said. ”The applicant is treating the Work Order and the logs as the same thing.”

”The Work Order has a date and an approving person.” She said. ”The other half of what I want is in its machine. If the logs existed, it needed to delete them. If the logs never existed, what was it deleting.”

”Thatʼs speculation.”

”Thatʼs my reason for asking this court to make it produce them.”

Judge Cheng took off his glasses, wiped them, and put them back on. ”Defendant 1, will you produce the logs or not.”

”Whether they existed and whether they can be submitted are two different questions.” Lu Jibai said. ”The respondent can answer only the latter. At present, they cannot be submitted. Whether they ever existed needs to be verified.”

”You said on the 19th you would go back and verify.” Judge Cheng said.

”Yes.”

”Four days of verifying, and today youʼre sitting here with the same answer.”

”Yes.”

Judge Cheng turned to her. ”What does the plaintiff ask of this court.”

She flipped to the last page of the application. That line sheʼd written in herself.

”Presiding Judge, under the Supreme Peopleʼs Court Provisions on Evidence in Civil Procedure, on the Documentary Evidence Production Order, and under the Civil Procedure Law Interpretation, on the two provisions concerning Obstruction of Evidence Production, the general substance is this: where documentary evidence is under the control of the opposing party, the court may order its production. Where the party refuses without just cause, the court may deem the content of the evidence as asserted by the applicant to be true. Where evidence is destroyed for the purpose of hindering the other partyʼs use of it, the court may impose a fine or detention. Today I ask this court to do two things: one, order Defendant 1 to produce the records for the three time windows I just limited; two, tell it in open court the consequences of refusing to produce.”

When she finished, she lifted her finger from the corner of the page. The lower right corner had gone fuzzy where sheʼd pinched it.

Judge Cheng lowered his head and wrote. For a while. When he finished, he set the pen down, barrel toward himself.

”This court will rule on the plaintiffʼs application from the bench.” He said. ”One: Defendant 1 shall, before the 26th of this month, submit to this court the backend access, operation, and backup generation records for the twenty accounts at issue, for July 18, October 16, and December 9 through 11, including timestamps, acting entities, and approval information, along with the application, approval, and execution records for the deletion operation of December 10. Two: the foregoing documents shall not be examined in open court. They will be submitted for the courtʼs review only. The plaintiff has consented in writing, and any costs arising from production shall be borne by the plaintiff. Three: if production is not made by the deadline, or if an explanation is given that cannot reasonably account for the failure, this court will proceed under the rules on Obstruction of Evidence Production and may deem the corresponding facts asserted by the plaintiff to be true.”

He looked up at the other side.

”The deadline I gave you on the 19th was for you to speak. Todayʼs deadline is for you to produce. Two matters, one date. Have I made myself clear.”

”Perfectly clear.” Lu Jibai said.

”Any objection may be filed in writing once, within three days, without affecting this order.”

”For the record.” Lu Jibai said. ”The respondent reserves its position.”

”Noted.” Judge Cheng said. ”As to Defendants 2, 3, and 4, who are absent, the remaining evidence of the plaintiff and the facts of this case will be heard on a further date to be set by this court. That is all for today. Court adjourned.”

There was no heat in the hallway, and the cold was more honest than in the courtroom. He Xiufen shifted the cloth bag to her other hand.

”You narrowed the scope well.” She said. ”What he wanted was ʼunclear.ʼ What youʼre asking is ʼwhich day.ʼ”

”What if he doesnʼt produce.”

”If he canʼt get it in by the 26th, heʼll have to write a page explaining why he canʼt. And if he canʼt write that page, then that page is written on our behalf.”

She pulled up the Public Information Registry page on her phone and held it out for He Xiufen to see.

”The Public Notice Period expires today.”

”Once it expires, he can go file the Deregistration.” He Xiufen handed the phone back. ”He canʼt get the case dismissed.”

”He canʼt get the case dismissed.”

”He can get the money out.” He Xiufen slung the cloth bag over her shoulder and headed for the stairs. ”Four days. Go over the Schedule against those dates. Donʼt get greedy. Just the three dates you limited is enough.”

The wind was strong on the steps. Lao Song stood up, opened his notebook, and wrote: 11:20, court adjourned. When he finished, he slipped the pencil back into the spine of the notebook.

”Got it down?” Deng Wei still held his stack of papers.

”Got it down.”

”He gave him seven days. What if he doesnʼt produce.”

”Then next week heʼll have to stand here and explain why he didnʼt.” She said. ”If he can give a clear explanation, Iʼll accept it. If he canʼt, the hearing record will speak for me.”

Ma Jianjun fished the document folded in quarters out of his padded coat, glanced at it, and tucked it back. ”Are we coming on the 26th?”

”Weʼre coming.” She said.

Lu Jibai came out through the side door, case file tucked under his arm, Lü Hang on the phone behind him. He stopped on the second step. He didnʼt look at her; he looked across the street at the row of delivery scooter boxes.

”Plaintiff.”

”Mm.”

”The scope you limited just now.” He said. ”You limited it well.”

She didnʼt answer.

”Thereʼs one more thing you didnʼt ask for.” He said.

”What.”

”What youʼre after isnʼt the logs.” He stepped down one more stair. The wind lifted the corner of the top page of his case file, and he pressed it down with his hand. ”What youʼre after is the person whoʼd dare admit the logs existed.”

He didnʼt look back. He walked all the way to the curb.

She stood where she was, took the hardbound notebook from her bag, and turned to the page labeled ”First Trial Round: The Defendant Column.” At the bottom she added a line: The person whoʼd dare say those three words. When she finished, she closed the notebook, and the corner of a page snapped once in the wind.