Legal information

Article introduction: Rights protection always fails? Can’t win the lawsuit? Maybe you don’t know these 5 things!

Part One, Case Story

1. As soon as Feng purchased a house, he received the news that the house was about to be expropriated. The house expropriator did not provide a compensation plan for property rights replacement, so Feng needs to live somewhere else.

2. Because this place is relatively close to the work, Feng doesn’t want to leave. After inquiring from various parties, Feng learned that a health and entertainment center was to be built here instead of a cultural square due to public interest needs. So after consulting a lawyer, Feng and other community owners filed an administrative lawsuit against the district government that made the demolition decision.

3. During the trial of this case, the district government submitted evidence such as the Municipal Planning Bureau’s construction land approval form, the Municipal Planning Bureau’s construction land planning permit, and the Municipal People’s Government’s construction land approval form, but did not submit the Municipal People’s Government’s construction land approval document. In the end, the district government lost the case due to insufficient evidence.

Part 2, lawyer analysis

1. According to the provisions of Articles 32 and 43 of the Administrative Litigation Law, the defendant bears the burden of proof for the specific administrative actions taken and shall provide all evidence and normative documents on which the specific administrative actions accused were taken within 10 days from the date of receipt of a copy of the complaint.

2. If the defendant fails to provide evidence or provides evidence beyond the time limit without justifiable reasons, it will be deemed that there is no corresponding evidence for the specific administrative act being sued.

The Yingting Demolition Team learned that administrative agencies should find evidence to prove that the specific administrative actions they implement are legal, rather than having citizens whose rights have been infringed collect evidence to prove that the specific administrative actions are illegal.

3. In this case, the respondent, the district government, should provide evidence that its administrative actions for house demolition were legal, but the district government failed to submit a complete submission within the time limit, and the lawsuit was ultimately ruled against.

4. In administrative procedures, the plaintiff is generally in a weak position, so the burden of proof lies with the defendant. However, the plaintiff still bears the burden of proof on some procedural facts.

5. According to Article 27 of the "Interpretations of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Implementation of the Administrative Litigation Law of the People's Republic of China", in administrative litigation, the plaintiff shall bear the burden of proof for the following matters:

(1) Prove that the lawsuit meets the statutory conditions, except where the defendant believes that the plaintiff’s lawsuit exceeds the time limit for filing a lawsuit;

(2) In cases where the defendant is accused of inaction, prove the fact that he made the application;

(3) In the administrative compensation lawsuit filed together, prove the fact that the losses were caused by the infringement of the accused behavior;

(4) Other matters for which the plaintiff shall bear the burden of proof.

Yingting reminds you:

When facing demolition, you should stay awake and avoid physical confrontation with the demolition personnel, and do not make verbal attacks. Protect the personal safety of yourself and your family. You can symbolically express your disagreement with the forced demolition and make audio and video recordings as evidence. If you have objections to resettlement compensation, file an administrative review within 60 days of receiving the expropriation decision, expropriation compensation decision and other specific administrative actions, and file an administrative lawsuit within 6 months. File a lawsuit to defend your rights within 6 months from the date the house was demolished. You can consult a land acquisition and demolition lawyer for solutions, or hire a demolition lawyer to negotiate with the government to strive for satisfactory compensation.