Mediation Story | Judge Resolves 23 Million Yuan of Enterprise Related Contract Dispute

Tianshan.com - Xinjiang Legal Daily reporter Gu Xueli Correspondent Zhu Lingyun

On the one hand, the real estate companies that were in arrears for 16 years of project funds, which seriously affected their own development, and on the other hand, the state-owned capital companies that were really facing difficulties and were unable to fulfill their payment obligations for a while, when the two major enterprises sought their own vitality in court, the problem was "thrown" to the judge.

Recently, with the efforts of the judges of the People's Court of Shanshan County, this contract dispute involving 23 million yuan was successfully resolved through mediation, which not only alleviated the burden of litigation for the enterprises involved, but also effectively resolved the contradictions and disputes between the two sides.

In 2008, a real estate development company in Turpan (hereinafter referred to as "the real estate company") and an agricultural development and investment company in Shanshan County (hereinafter referred to as "the investment company") signed the Development and Construction Agreement, with the project amount of 19 million yuan. The real estate company will develop and construct the project, and the investment company will assist in handling the preliminary procedures for development and construction. After the contract is signed, the investment company shall pay the project fund to the real estate company according to the agreement in Item 2 of Article 2 of the contract. But in fact, the investment company has been in arrears with the project funds and has not appropriated them in time. Nevertheless, the real estate company still completed the project construction as agreed. The real estate company audited the project in 2016, and then repeatedly urged the investment company to pay for the project, without success. The real estate company sued the investment company to the People's Court of Shanshan County in November 2023, requiring it to pay 23 million yuan of arrears of project funds and interest losses (including 19 million yuan of principal and 4 million yuan of interest).

On January 9, the case was heard, and the judge organized mediation for the first time after soliciting the opinions of both parties before the trial. During this period, the investment company never responded to the audit report unilaterally applied for appraisal by the real estate company, and the mediation agreement was not reached. After the court session, the judge contacted both parties for many times considering the long history of the project involved and the large amount of project funds. He suggested that the specific amount of project funds should be checked according to the contract performed by both parties, and then the gap should be compared according to the audit report.

Considering that the defendant is a state-owned company and its account and property are frozen, which will have a significant adverse impact on it, the dispute must be resolved as soon as possible and the legitimate rights and interests of the plaintiff must be protected. After finding out the facts of the case, the judge found that even if the judgment was made according to law, the plaintiff could not quickly realize its rights and interests.

Subsequently, the judge accurately divided the responsibilities, established the idea of rapid mediation and extended the payment cycle, and organized the mediation of both parties again. This time, the investment company made a detailed list of the specific unpaid project funds and amounts, which were checked item by item by both parties, and the judge also fully solicited the opinions of both parties.

After analyzing and judging the whole case, the judge starts from the focus of the dispute, understands the legal principle, shows the interests, and guides both parties to think in terms of empathy, mutual understanding and compromise.

On April 29, after many times of mediation, both parties finally reached a consensus that the real estate company voluntarily gave up the interest of 4 million yuan, and agreed that the investment company should pay 19 million yuan of the contract amount in installments, with a grace period of three years. So far, this 16 year contract dispute has been successfully resolved through mediation.