Guanzhou High People’s Court Ruling Keeps Foshan Electrical Lighting Lawsuit in Local Courts

In the latest development of the long legal battle between Foshan Electrical Lighting and company stockholders, Guanzhou High People’s Court recently informed lawyers that it upheld previous rulings of the intermediate people’s court in keeping the case in Guangzhou courts, according to a report by Guangdong Yangcheng Evening News Digital Media.

Back in March 2014, The Guangzhou Intermediate People’s Court in China ruling rejected the Chinese LED manufacturer’s appeal to transfer court districts to Foshan Intermediate People’s Court. The Guangzhou People’s High Court recently issued “Civil Court Ruling” notices to civil right lawyers that it upheld the previous ruling.

Chinese legal experts projected the company’s dishonest financial statement compensation lawsuit trial will mostly likely restart in second half of 2014.

Well known stock rights lawyer Liu Guohua, from Guangdong Benben Law Firm pointed out Foshan Lighting’s appeal is no doubt a tactic to delay legal proceedings. Since the Guangdong High Court rejected the appeal, there are still nine months before the limitations of actions expires. Company stockholders can still file compensation lawsuits against the company’s dishonest financial statements during this period, said Liu. Eligible investors include those who bought the company stock from of July 15, 2010 to July 5, 2012, and continued to hold on to the stocks or sold them after July 6, 2012.

Now the case has returned to Guangzhou Intermediate People’s Courts, many Foshan Lighting investors that incurred losses expressed on fianancial websites the desire for the trial to reopen soon. However, Liu noted based on the current situation the court will not reopen till second half of 2014.

According to Foshan Lighting’s 2013 financial report, from September 2013 it has received three waves of investor lawsuits totaling to 1,303 complaints, and bringing total compensation claim to RMB 180 million (US $28.76 million). Whether it’s the number of people involved or total compensation amount, the case has broken the record for similar cases that the Guangdong People’s Intermediate Court has previously processed. Some analysts even believe there many investors that have not filed lawsuits yet are still speculating. These analysts believe the total compensation sum will continue to soar.

According to Foshan Lighting’s 2013 financial report, net profit reached RMB 251 million. The RMB 180 million stockholder compensation sum will eat up about 70 percent of these profits.

In September 2013, the Guangzhou Intermediate People’s Court received the first wave of investors compensation plaintiff. Shortly after, Foshan Lighting appealed to transfer the case to Foshan Intermediate People’s Court. However, Guangzhou’s Intermediate People’s Court decision rejected this appeal. Undeterred the company appealed again to Guangzhou People’s High Court. The high court’s ruling of keeping the case in Guangzhou is in line with the intermediate court’s decision.

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