Lawsuit against ConocoPhillips China and CNOOC Accepted by Qingdao Maritime Court, Rejected by Tianjin Maritime Court

On July 9th and 10th, representing fishermen who suffered losses from the Bohai Bay oil spill pollution, lawyer Li Gang from Shandong Deheng Law Firm and lawyer Zhang Xingkuan from Beijing DHH Law Firm filed lawsuits against ConocoPhillips China and CNOOC respectively.

Recently Qingdao Maritime Court notified the plaintiffs, seven fishermen and one villagers’ committee in Shandong Province to summit additional evidence to support the litigate requests and alleged facts.

However, as to the similar case filed by lawyer Zhang Xingkuan representing more than 120 fishermen from Tianjin, Tianjin Maritime Court declined to put the case on file. For this lawsuit Mr Zhang asked Tianjin Maritime Court to handle the case according to Article 123 of the Civil Procedural Law. He is angry with the attitude of the Court towards the case..

The case brought by more than 500 fishermen in the U.S. has been hard-fought. One of the most compelling pieces of evidence submitted by the defendant to stop the filing of the case by courts in the U. S. was the so called “Case Acceptance Notice,” which was issued to ConocoPhillips by Tianjin Maritime Court for ulterior motives. Lawyer Zhang Xingkuan expressed his hope that the Tianjin Higher People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Court could stop illegal, immoral and unstandardized judicial acts.    

On the afternoon of July 17 a reporter from Shanghai TV Station interviewed lawyer Tang Huadong, the Standing Deputy Director of Beijing DHH (Shanghai) Law Firm. Mr Tang has kept requesting relevant authorities to disclose information concerning the Bohai Bai oil spill pollution.

Shanghai TV conducted a comprehensive and in-depth report on the governmental information disclosure, the filing of the civil claim cases by fishermen and the losses caused by the oil spill etc. Lawyer Tang called on the Maritime Courts of China to put the cases on file and exercise their jurisdiction rights to handle key marine environmental cases according to law.