Oct 01 2008
inevitability: the first of the sanlu lawsuits
Well, it seems like national government assistance and local government discouragement (a.k.a. pressure) didn’t prevent what the government as a whole was trying to avoid all along with Sanlu: the lawsuit. While I had thought it would be some time before one of these cases was filed, I was wrong.
The first lawsuit was reported by Bloomberg today ( h/t to CDT, which always does a good job scooping me):
The parents of a one-year-old boy sickened by tainted milk powder filed a lawsuit against Sanlu Group Co., seeking 150,000 yuan ($21,913) in compensation, the Beijing Youth Daily reported.
The boy was found to have kidney stones after he drank more than 100 bags of Sanlu’s milk powder since he was born in July 2007 in Henan province, the state-run newspaper said over the weekend, court documents.
Sanlu officials were unavailable for comment today and haven’t returned calls over the past two weeks. The company, in a letter of apology on its Web site, has said it “is heart stricken by the damage that we’ve caused.” Government and business offices are closed in China for a week-long holiday.
This should be interesting since I didn’t think that pain and suffering could be recoverable. Since I don’t have a pleading in hand, I cannot comment on what causes of action are being used as the grounds for the case… and of course, what the grounds for the damages are. But this should prove to be an interesting test case. If the family makes out well, then the floodgates may open wide for litigation. Just imagine how much a wrongful death case could potentially be worth as it strikes the heart of Chinese values in family.
However, the problem? Local government pressure. And also the Chinese aversion to litigation to solve problems unless push really does come to shove. I don’t know how much of a chilling effect these two things will have on the likelihood of lawsuits. Should prove interesting. (almost makes me wish I could do a sociological study about this instead of talking about law)
Stay tuned. I know I will.
UPDATE: China Law Prof Blog picked up the Chinese version from Beijing Youth Daily.
