Foshan lighting lawsuit

Foshan Lighting's claim continued to ferment. This is already the third batch of prosecution documents received by Foshan Lighting.

On March 13, Foshan Electric Lighting Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Foshan Lighting) received the relevant legal documents from the Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court (hereinafter referred to as Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court), and the Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court has accepted the plaintiff's 116 persons (items) as “Securities. False Statement Responsibility Dispute was the civil case filed against Foshan Lighting.

Some lawyers believe that the number of plaintiffs in the future may be even more, and the claimed amount may be more than 300 million yuan in 116 cases with claim amounts of 22,552,400 yuan and 546,600 Hong Kong dollars, including the amount of lawsuit against the company and part of the company's directors and executives. It was RMB 1.0936 million and HK$ 10622.68. In addition to the previous two claims, the number of claimants was as many as 1,000, and the amount claimed was more than 180 million yuan.

Why did Foshan Lighting fall into a number of claims? What impact will this bring on the future development of Foshan Lighting in the transition period? Can Foshan Lighting eventually settle the claims?

Regarding the latest developments in the case, the director of Foshan Lighting Director Lin Yuhui said in an interview with reporters that the case was still in the process of litigation and the specific circumstances were not disclosed. In response to the root cause of the case, Lin Yuhui only stated that "the company will face this issue and will take various measures to improve it," but the issue itself is rumored.

Beijing Weinuo Law Firm represented more than 40 shareholders in the Foshan Lighting Claim and its senior partner Yang Zhaoquan told the reporter about the progress of the case: “Foshan Lighting Company filed a jurisdiction with Guangzhou Intermediate People’s Court for a lawsuit against investors. Dissenting, the Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court ruled dismissed, and Foshan Lighting later filed an appeal against the Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court ruling to the Higher People's Court of Guangdong Province. The current progress is that the High Court has accepted the appeal of Foshan Lighting, but no ruling has yet been made.” Further said: "Following the objection to jurisdiction, Foshan Lighting has no other means to delay the trial, I believe that the Guangdong Provincial High Court will soon make a decision on Foshan Lighting's appeal."

Thousands of people claim "three doors" worse

The incident began with a paper punishment. According to the penalty decision issued by the supervision department of Foshan Lighting on July 6, 2012, the Guangdong Securities Regulatory Commission found that the company did not disclose the association with the related company in the 2009 Annual Report, the 2010 Annual Report and the Interim Report, the 2011 Annual Report and the Interim Report. Relationships, related transactions. After the news was disclosed, Foshan Lighting's stock price plummeted, with a drop of 6.96% on that day, and investors suffered heavy losses. Since Foshan Lighting was placed on investigation in early November 2012 and issued a punishment decision in March 2013, the company’s stock price has fallen from 11 yuan to about 6.8 yuan, a decline of nearly 40%, and a large number of small and medium investors have suffered Locked in.

As a result, a series of lawsuits for claims began to kick off. According to the claim conditions, investors who purchase shares of Foshan Lighting from July 15, 2010 to July 6, 2012, and those who suffered losses due to the sale or continued holding of Foshan Lighting shares on July 6, 2012, can file a claim. .

On September 18, 2013, Foshan Lighting received the first batch of prosecution documents involving 515 shareholders of civil lawsuits, claiming a total amount of 74,328,300 yuan and 81,900 Hong Kong dollars. Although the amount of compensation claimed in this case varies from millions to 1,000 yuan, both the number involved and the total amount may be the largest in all similar cases in the Guangzhou Intermediate Court.

In response, Foshan Lighting stated in the announcement on lawsuits issued on September 23, 2013, “At present, the above cases have entered the litigation process but the trial has not yet commenced. The company will actively participate in lawsuits and will promptly disclose the laws in accordance with regulations. Progress of the case. Due to the fact that the case has not yet commenced, it is not yet possible to determine the impact of this announced lawsuit on the company's current profit or future profits."

Some lawyers said that investors are very likely to receive compensation. According to the cash bonus of up to 2.1 billion yuan distributed from Foshan Lighting in 1993 to the 16 years of 2009, Foshan Lighting also has this repayment ability.

The above case was originally scheduled to be heard publicly at the 31st Court of Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court on October 22, 2013. However, Foshan Lighting failed to meet the court due to objection to jurisdiction.

It seems that the claims that slowly faded have begun to fluctuate. On January 7 this year, Foshan Lighting also received the second batch of claims involving 672 shareholders, claiming an amount of 87,007,700 yuan.

At this point, the total number of lawsuits in the two groups reached 1,187, and the amount of claims has exceeded 100 million yuan. Foshan Lighting's repayment pressure has therefore been greatly increased.

It is understood that lawyers in the case had tried to mediate with Foshan Lighting, but Foshan Lighting refused to mediate on the ground that it did not meet the conditions for compensation and did not agree to compensation.

Only two months before and after, Foshan Lighting received a third batch of claims. As of now, the total number of claims in the three batches of claims is 1,303 and the claim amount has increased to 180 million yuan.

Cause of breach of trust by the Securities Commission

Traced back to the source, information disclosure violations are the trigger for the claims of the small and medium-sized investors. On March 6, 2013, Foshan Lighting received the Administrative Penalty Decision (〔2013〕 1) issued by the Guangdong Securities Regulatory Bureau of the China Securities Regulatory Commission. Foshan Lighting has been subject to administrative penalties for violations of information disclosure and its behavior has been constituted. False statements of securities.

The penalties show that Foshan Lighting repeatedly violated the information disclosure requirements of listed companies during 2010 and 2011, and did not do any material guarantees involving related parties, or related transactions, investments, or acquisitions related to the day-to-day operations of related parties. Disclosures, etc. It is understood that in 2010 and 2011 two years, Foshan Lighting, a total of five violations of information disclosure, and three of them are involved in lithium business. Foshan Lighting was thus ordered to correct and warn, and was fined 400,000 yuan, and other related persons were also given warnings and varying degrees of fines.

According to the “People's Republic of China Securities Law” and “Some Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Trial of Civil Compensation Cases Triggered by False Statements in the Securities Market,” investors have already obtained the conditions for suing the listed company. In this way, investors who were damaged due to false representation of Foshan Lighting Securities filed claims with Foshan Lighting and hoped to recover losses through legal channels.

Yang Zhaoquan told this reporter: “This is the reason why investors can sue Foshan Lighting, and it is also the most important precondition.”

Li Jian, a lawyer of Zhejiang Yufeng Law Firm, one of the attorneys of the case, told the media that the work of accepting and declaring the prosecution of shareholders in this case will continue till the expiration of the limitation period on March 6, 2015, and the preliminary calculation of the biennial full time will be announced. The number may exceed 2,000, claim amounts or exceed 200 million yuan. Liu Weota, a lawyer of Beijing Weinuo Law Firm, also told this reporter that according to the number of shareholders and stock circulation of Foshan Lighting, the number of plaintiffs in the future may be even more, and the claim amount may exceed 300 million yuan.

When asked whether Chaoyang’s claims amounting to over RMB 1 million were within the affordability of Foshan Lighting, Lin Yuhui rejected the case on the ground that the case was not yet completed: “I don’t want to say anything.” Lin Yuhui repeatedly stressed that the problem must be resolved. However, they are reluctant to disclose the corrective measures taken.

An objection to jurisdictional objections. Lin Yihui only responded by saying: "We do this legally and compliantly." Avoid talking about its real purpose.

Yao Zhiming, a partner of Beijing Yingke Law Firm (Global Headquarters), told this reporter: “The delay time is just one of the aspects. The objection to jurisdiction will also affect the case itself from two levels: from Guangzhou to Foshan for trial. It can both increase the ability to interfere with lawsuits and at the same time reduce litigation costs."

However, some people in the industry believe that initiating objections to jurisdiction and procrastinating time are actually unfavorable to both defendants. If the case can be heard as soon as possible, the plaintiff can get some of the compensation, and the defendant can quickly become turbulent and concentrate on investing in LED transformation as soon as possible.