In 2024, drawing on profound professional expertise, innovative strategic thinking, and unwavering dedication to practice, Zhenghan Law Firm continued to forge ahead in the field of complex commercial dispute resolution. We took on a series of highly challenging cases, strove for excellence at every turn, safeguarded our clients\u2019 rights and interests, and achieved remarkable and hard-won results.<\/p>\n
As in previous years, Zhenghan Law Firm has selected and released the \u201cTop 10 Cases of 2024\u201d, marking the fifth consecutive year we have published our annual Top 10 Cases since 2020 (click here to review Zhenghan Law Firm\u2019s Top 10 Cases of 2023, 2022, 2021, and 2020).<\/p>\n
This list embodies the wisdom and diligence of our legal team. It includes cutting-edge cases that set \u201cnational firsts\u201d, complex cases spanning multiple areas such as cross-border coordination and civil-criminal crossover, and, most notably, landmark cases where innovative strategies turned the tide against unfavorable odds. These cases reflect Zhenghan\u2019s outstanding strengths in teamwork, tackling tough cases, and embracing innovation. Below, we revisit these classic cases.<\/p>\n
Zhenghan Law Firm Top 10 Cases of 2024 (in no particular order)<\/strong><\/p>\n Litigation over a de facto controller abusing a related party relationship to damage company interests is inherently challenging, especially regarding the identification of the de facto controller, uncovering concealed tortious acts, drawing the line between legitimate commercial transactions and torts, and quantifying damages. This case encapsulated all these difficulties: complex facts, hidden torts, and the destruction and concealment of key evidence by Lin prior to his criminal conviction, with remaining documents containing falsified data. Senior management involved in operations acted under Lin\u2019s direction, with none cooperating to expose the truth. Upon being retained, Zhenghan immediately launched a case-specific analysis, deconstructing the transaction model to demonstrate its severe lack of commercial rationality. Our detailed arguments persuaded the court to order judicial authentication. Relying on the authentication report, the court ultimately ordered Lin and his affiliates to pay RMB 400 million in joint and several compensation.<\/p>\n Our client extended a trust loan to a debtor, with a local state-owned enterprise providing a guarantee that included a clause of \u201cpre-consent to continue guaranteeing any extension of the principal obligation\u201d. When the trust loan fell due, the client filed suit. Disputes arose over the validity of the pre-consent clause, compounded by adverse factors: the client\u2019s loan officer was involved in a criminal case, the principal debtor went bankrupt, the principal contract was subject to extension disputes, and the counterparty used local influence to interfere with fact-finding via criminal reports. Focusing on core legal issues, the team addressed the handling of civil-criminal crossover, the determination of contract validity where effectiveness conditions were disputed, and differences in pre-consent clauses before and after the enactment of the Civil Code. Emphasizing the commercial context and rationality of the guarantee, we successfully persuaded the appellate court to reverse the judgment and hold the guarantor liable for joint and several payment of the RMB 1.3 billion claim, recovering massive losses for the client.<\/p>\n Zhenghan successfully represented a client as the fund-outflow party in a complex financed trade dispute seeking recovery through litigation. The case was compounded by the inherent complexity of financed trade, intertwined civil-criminal legal issues, and the counterparty\u2019s bankruptcy, presenting unprecedented challenges to recovery. Throughout the process, Zhenghan proceeded steadily, attending to every detail and closely monitoring case progress. At each stage, we conducted exhaustive analysis and pursued all available remedies, overcoming obstacles one by one. We ultimately obtained an effective judgment and assisted the client in recovering funds, fully demonstrating our efficient and professional capabilities in financed trade and civil-criminal crossover cases. Through precise legal strategies, we maximized the client\u2019s interests.<\/p>\n Our client purchased a detached villa with full payment but faced repeated obstacles to performance, sparking an eight-year lawsuit. The case involved over RMB 100 million in complex fund flows, confused legal relationships, missing evidence, and interference from criminal case filings. Leveraging profound legal expertise and sharp insight, Zhenghan traced the fund flow, reconstructed the transaction truth, and established a clear factual framework. Facing the threat of criminal prosecution, we mounted a vigorous defense, successfully persuading the appellate court to order a resumption of proceedings and assisting public security authorities in concluding there was no criminal conduct. Over the lengthy litigation, we withstood the counterparty\u2019s interference through first instance, appeal, and retrial by the Supreme People\u2019s Court, and skillfully overcame enforcement objections. We ultimately secured full ownership of the villa for the client.<\/p>\n The controlling shareholder of a listed company had signed a \u201cnon-harassment agreement\u201d with an individual, promising to create commercial opportunities for the individual to acquire company shares in exchange for ending disruptive activities. The individual later harassed the company and sought profit during a private placement, prompting the controlling shareholder to retain Zhenghan to initiate arbitration. Our team meticulously organized evidence and vividly presented the facts, convincing the arbitral tribunal of the individual\u2019s malicious breach. The tribunal ordered the return of listed company shares worth over RMB 70 million, protecting the client\u2019s rights and the listed company\u2019s normal operations. This case highlights Zhenghan\u2019s expertise in handling unique contractual disputes and listed company equity conflicts.<\/p>\n Our client sold equity in a data center project company to another firm, which later sued to effect a \u201czero-dollar takeover\u201d after project construction stalled. Retained to defend, Zhenghan conducted in-depth research into the data center industry, identified the counterparty\u2019s fundamental breach, and filed a counterclaim for contract termination. In appellate mediation, our professional negotiation skills secured a settlement that enabled the client to fully realize the project\u2019s value. A landmark case in the data center industry, it protected the client\u2019s legitimate and vested interests and earned high client recognition. This case also reflects Zhenghan\u2019s successful collaboration with peer firms, fostering synergy and creating substantial value for all parties.<\/p>\n The core issue in this private equity exit dispute was whether the transaction constituted \u201cequity in form but debt in substance\u201d. Zhenghan thoroughly analyzed the investment structure, conducted exhaustive research on judicial views, cases, and academic theories, and secured a reversal at the Shanghai Higher People\u2019s Court. The appellate court rejected the first-instance court\u2019s piercing review of the contractual relationship, clarifying the legal review framework for private equity investments and shielding the fund manager from massive liability. In enforcement, we coordinated with multiple institutions to swiftly dispose of shares and dividends, recovering nearly RMB 100 million for the client. This case sets an important precedent for handling private equity fund exit disputes.<\/p>\n This case involved insider trading and securities market manipulation, spanning administrative penalties, administrative litigation, civil enforcement, and criminal proceedings across multiple jurisdictions, addressing key and difficult issues in securities violations. Due to the confidentiality of the case, a dedicated professional research article will be published separately for readers.<\/p>\n This case involved cutting-edge judicial practices in cross-border dispute resolution, including overseas equity disputes, parallel litigation, and interim injunctive relief. Despite ongoing overseas proceedings involving the overseas equity, Zhenghan persuaded a Chinese court to accept jurisdiction over the dispute and, in a breakthrough, obtained interim injunctive relief over the control of a series of domestic and overseas companies, safeguarding the client\u2019s interests. Due to confidentiality, case details cannot be disclosed.<\/p>\n This national first case centered on huge reliance interest claims, involving the legal characterization of this niche area and the recognition of third-party reliance interests. With no clear legal or regulatory provisions, the dispute risked being decided by intuitive values rather than legal analysis. Departing from traditional tort reasoning, the team grounded arguments in the scope of civil rights and interests protected by tort law, successfully demonstrating that the plaintiff\u2019s claimed interests fell outside tort protection. This innovative strategy showcased the team\u2019s high-level capability in handling complex and novel cases, ultimately shielding the client from RMB 300 million in compensation.<\/p>\n These successful cases completed by Zhenghan Law Firm in 2024 fully demonstrate our profound professional knowledge, innovative strategic application, and tenacious spirit across all subfields of complex commercial dispute resolution. These achievements have delivered comprehensive, high-quality legal services to our clients and contributed practical experience to the legal industry. Nonetheless, we recognize that the pursuit of legal services is endless, and these cases represent only milestones on our journey. Going forward, Zhenghan will continue to strive for excellence, explore innovation, and enhance our professional capabilities and service standards to meet increasingly complex legal challenges. We will deliver even higher-quality and more efficient legal services to our clients and contribute to the sustainable development of the legal profession.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In 2024, drawing on profound professional expertise, innovative strategic thinking, and unwavering dedication to practice, Zhenghan Law Firm continued to forge ahead in the field of complex commercial dispute resolution. We took on a series of hig…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[279],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zhenghan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zhenghan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zhenghan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zhenghan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zhenghan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.zhenghan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2330\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zhenghan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zhenghan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zhenghan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}RMB 400 Million in Compensation, a Six-Year Legal Battle: Zhenghan Secures Victory for Client in Related Party Transaction Case Damaging Company Interests<\/h2>\n
Keywords: Related party transactions damaging company interests, identification of de facto controller, judicial authentication<\/h3>\n
From Pressure to Surprise: Reversal in a RMB 1.3 Billion Guarantee Contract Dispute<\/h3>\n
Keywords: Guarantee contract, civil-criminal crossover, pre-consent to continued guarantee, determination of contract effectiveness conditions<\/h3>\n
Complex Financed Trade Case Involving Civil-Criminal Crossover and Bankruptcy: Precise Positioning and Coordinated Strategy Maximize Client Interests<\/h2>\n
Keywords: Financed trade, civil-criminal crossover, bankruptcy liquidation<\/h2>\n
A \u201cRashomon\u201d Case: Complete Victory in an Eight-Year Battle for a Detached Villa<\/h2>\n
Keywords: Housing sales dispute, civil-criminal crossover, criminal risk mitigation, retrial by the Supreme People\u2019s Court<\/h3>\n
Innovative Enforcement via \u201cNon-Harassment Agreement\u201d Secures Return of Listed Company Shares for Client<\/h2>\n
Keywords: \u201cNon-harassment agreement\u201d, listed company equity dispute<\/h2>\n
Defeating a \u201cZero-Dollar Takeover\u201d: Zhenghan Helps Client Realize Project Value in a Data Center Equity Transfer Dispute<\/h2>\n
Keywords: Equity transfer dispute, data center project, peer collaboration<\/h2>\n
Complete Appellate Reversal: Rules for Reviewing Legal Relationships in a Private Equity Fund Exit Dispute<\/h2>\n
Keywords: Private equity fund equity investment, equity in form but debt in substance, mixed contract, judicial disposal of shares<\/h2>\n
Insider Trading and Market Manipulation Across Multiple Jurisdictions: Comprehensive Mitigation of Administrative and Criminal Risks<\/h2>\n
Keywords: Insider trading, false representations, market manipulation, crossover of administrative and civil proceedings<\/h3>\n
Cross-Border Battle for Overseas Equity Worth RMB 10 Billion: Innovative Judicial Practice Filling Legal Gaps<\/h2>\n
Keywords: Interim injunctive relief in cross-border commercial cases, domestic court adjudication of overseas equity disputes<\/h3>\n
National First Case for Huge Reliance Interest Claims: Innovative Arguments Shield Client from RMB 300 Million Liability<\/h2>\n
Keywords: Third-party infringement of creditor\u2019s rights, scope and definition of reliance interest<\/h3>\n