"Punitive damages in civil lawsuits are usually targeted at cases with serious consequences and negative social impact. You focused on the key points, but in order to highlight the shared responsibility of Seth's parents, the local police department, and the municipal government, you have to emphasize that Seth's parents committed irreparable and even criminal acts in the criminal case."
He Zhichu explained to Gu Nianzhi like he was teaching a class. "Do you understand?"
"Professor He is still the best!" Gu Nianzhi nodded obediently like a chick pecking at grains.
He Zhichu couldn't help ruffling her hair. "Stop flattering me. After lunch, reorganize the complaint and come to court with me to submit it."
Gu Nianzhi giggled as she finished lunch at He Zhichu's place and returned to her room to reorganize the complaint.
An hour later, she finished the complaint and sent it to He Zhichu for a final review. After he signed it, he took Gu Nianzhi to court personally.
Before going, He Zhichu used the name of his American law firm to have one of his assistants, Smith, call all the major German media outlets and say that the law firm would immediately represent Li Haiqing's parents to file a joint civil claim against Nina, Seth, Seth's parents, the Dessau Regional Police Department, and the Dessau government. The amount would be kept secret for now.
After the Munich District Court deliberately cooled down and delayed, the case became a hot topic on social media for a while before slowly dying down because there was no follow-up development.
This was exactly what Seth's parents wanted to see. As long as the public stopped paying attention to the case, it would be easier for them to play tricks.
They didn't expect He Zhichu's call to Smith to cause such a stir and cause the German media to explode again!
This was almost breaking news in Germany.
All of a sudden, all the major German media outlets stopped their normal broadcasts and sent out live interview teams to broadcast the filing of the civil lawsuit.
Li Haiqing's case was once again brought up for the audience to explain and explain to them that the Munich District Court was still considering the case and hadn't announced a verdict yet.
The media moved too quickly.
He Zhichu's business car hadn't even arrived at the Munich District Court when the media's cameras were already set up in front of the courthouse.
The weather was fine that day, and the sun wasn't as strong at two or three in the afternoon. When the wind blew, it was even a bit cool.
The reporters' cameras showed a low-key black business car coming from the other side of the street and stopping in front of the Munich District Court.
The car door opened, and a tall, handsome man in a black Armani suit and sunglasses stepped out of the car. It was He Zhichu, one of the partners of the American law firm that everyone was already familiar with.
After he got out, he immediately turned around and reached his hand into the car.
A woman grabbed his arm and jumped out of the car. Although she was wearing sunglasses, people still recognized her. She was He Zhichu's only female assistant this time. She was also Gu Nianzhi, who had appeared in court to argue during the third trial!
The reporters immediately swarmed over, and countless microphones and recording pens were handed to He Zhichu and Gu Nianzhi.
"Lawyer He, may I ask why you are requesting civil compensation from the Dessau Regional Police Department and the municipal government?"
"Lawyer Gu, will you also be appearing in court for the civil compensation case?"
"Lawyer He, may I know how much you claim in civil cases?"
…
He couldn't wait to throw out one question after another, waiting for He Zhichu and Gu Nianzhi to answer.
Gu Nianzhi received He Zhichu's signal and spoke in English first. "We are requesting civil compensation from the Dessau Regional Police Department and the municipal government because they neglected their duties and intentionally allowed the criminal to destroy evidence, causing irreparable damage and harm to my victim."
The German reporters all understood English, so everyone immediately translated her words into German and sent the live video back to their own media outlets.
He Zhichu looked around and said coolly in German, "This time, we are requesting compensation from the two defendants, as well as Seth's parents, York and Ramona, the Dessau Regional Police Department, and the municipal government. It is a total of one billion euros."
“What？！”
The crowd of reporters froze when they heard He Zhichu's words. They almost thought they didn't understand German.
"Did I hear that right?"
"Yes, yes, is it one billion … euros?!"
"Yes, yes, yes! I also heard it was one billion euros! "
Everyone looked at He Zhichu and Gu Nianzhi in unison to confirm again. "The compensation is really one billion euros?!"
"You didn't hear wrong," He Zhichu said as he walked straight to the court.
Gu Nianzhi followed closely behind, feeling very emotional.
As expected, a huge compensation was big news …
If the compensation was too small, she would be too embarrassed to face the reporters.
Her lips curled into a faint smile as she calmly walked to the steps of the court building.
It took less than ten minutes for her to submit the complaint inside the court, but Gu Nianzhi thought of many things.
Huge civil claims were very common in Western countries. They served as punishment and deterrence, so that the stronger party would not dare to do anything to harm the weaker party.
Especially when an individual was the weaker party and sued a government agency or large corporation, the chances of winning were very high.
For example, the famous McDonald's Hot Coffee Case of the last century. An old woman was scalded by McDonald's hot coffee. Although she only stayed in the hospital for three days, she still sued McDonald's for millions of dollars in compensation and won.
That was the power of punitive damages in civil lawsuits.
Gu Nianzhi hoped that this exorbitant civil compensation would not only attract a new round of attention from the media and the public, but also prepare for losing the criminal case.
She already sensed that due to the lack of direct evidence and the court's bias towards the defendant, they would most likely lose the criminal case.
Although they would definitely continue to appeal, Gu Nianzhi could currently use the public's anger from losing the criminal case to make their civil case go more smoothly.
To be honest, because Germany didn't have the death penalty, Gu Nianzhi would never be satisfied with the criminal case's outcome no matter how it was judged. Therefore, only a huge compensation in a civil case would let the other party know what it meant to feel "real pain."
Because the media's attention was too high, and after He Zhichu submitted the complaint to the court, he published it online. Because of this, the Munich District Court had no choice but to accept the case.
This was because countless law experts and high-ranking political officials were watching the case.
No matter how powerful Seth's stepfather, York, was, he could only do whatever he wanted in Dessau. His hand was not big enough to completely cover all of Germany.
※ ※ ※
It was the second watch.
Just a reminder for recommendation votes and monthly votes!
Mwah! O(∩_∩)O~
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