Lawyers in this case: Wang Yanhong, Xu Ying
Today, as the wave of digital economy sweeps across all walks of life, APP real-name authentication has become a "standard feature" in industrial and commercial registration, financial services, contract signing and other fields. While we enjoy convenience, every time you "swipe your face" or "enter the verification code" represents your rights and obligations. However, when "face recognition" does not equal "knowledge" and "verification code" does not equal "true intention", how can the law protect the person being impersonated?
A case represented by lawyers Wang Yanhongand Xu Ying of Jingshi Law Firm gave a resounding answer: procedural justice is the most solid bridge to substantive justice.
Left: Attorney Xu Ying Right: Attorney Wang Yanhong
Received the pennant presented by the party
01Desperate Situation——The "Execution Cliff" of the Imposter**(1) Three ordinary people became "unlimited joint and several liability persons"**overnight
Li, Yang and Zhang, three ordinary people who did not know each other, were exploited by the actual controller due to an accidental "cooperation experience" and were registered as "general partners" of a partnership without their knowledge. When the company was heavily in debt and the person in charge was detained for criminal charges, the three parties suddenly discovered that the properties under their names had been seized, their deposits had been frozen, and some large amounts of funds had even been transferred to court accounts.
The person applying for execution clearly stated that he did not agree with our party to provide a counter-guarantee, and the person applying for execution was a shell company and did not have the ability to execute the reversal. This means that even if the case is ultimately successful, the executed payments may not be recovered.
(2) Progressive "Procedural Dilemma"**Determination by the administrative agency:**After asking and investigating whether the party is a partner of the partnership, the administrative agency finally determines that he is a partner, and this determination is not controversial. Reason: "The authentication system shows that the real-name authentication of the three people has been completed. After verification, the procedures are in compliance."**Administrative litigation failed in the first instance:**The administrative litigation requesting to revoke the status of a partner in the industrial and commercial registration was not supported in the first instance, and the judgment was fully reasoned and almost impeccable. If appealed, the probability of the second instance upholding the original verdict is extremely high.
**Two levels of rejection of execution reconsideration:After the execution court added the party to be executed, the party applied for reconsideration to the execution court and the higher court, but neither was supported. 02Faith - Carving out the first light in despair(1) "Establishing faith"**is the first step to break the situation
Faced with the collapse of the client's confidence, the first thing the team did was not to discuss strategies or list legal regulations, but to "establish faith." "What is false cannot be true, and justice must defeat evil" is not a slogan, but the underlying belief of the team. Only when the parties concerned stand up first can the case be turned over.
During the month-long communication, the team listened patiently, analyzed each case point by point, used professionalism and sincerity to rekindle the parties' hope, and entrusted the remaining two parties to the case who did not know each other to our team.
(2) "Comprehensive physical examination" before accepting entrustment Before accepting the entrustment, lawyer Wang Yanhong completed a detailed agency risk analysis and litigation plan, and formulated an evidence supplement plan and a preliminary due diligence plan. After multiple rounds of online meetings with the three parties, the client said: "Lawyer Wang, we believe in you. You can do whatever you say. We will support you, no matter what the outcome is."03Break the situation - find the "breakthrough" from technical details**(1) The case involves the intersection of laws from multiple departments,but the team is not in a hurry to file the case The case involves the intersection of civil procedure law, administrative law, enforcement regulations, partnership law, criminal law and other departmental laws. The team did not rush to file the case, but spent a lot of time to do three things first: comprehensively sorting out the reasons for the failure, verifying the details of the case one by one, and searching for policy documents on similar cases and behaviors.(2) Locking entry point: technical compliance of real-name authentication procedures**
In the end, the team locked on a seemingly simple entry point that was ignored by many people - the key evidence needed to close the loop of "the signature is not signed by me" in industrial and commercial registration: real-name authentication, and dug deeper step by step.
The traditional "handwriting appraisal" has gradually weakened in the era of APP authentication. Starting from the technical level of electronic evidence, it is more beneficial to conduct a substantial and penetrating review of the entire authentication process.
**(3) How does the actual controller create a "false proposition"?The actual controller used the parties' cooperation experience in other companies to deliberately create illusions such as "equity transfer", "joint planning and decoration" and "joint discussion on the development of the partnership", creating a "false proposition" that the three parties were partners. It also used the real-name authentication program of the industrial and commercial registration APP that was piloted at the time to upload the video and ID card of the parties involved, and fictionalized that the parties "completed the online authentication of the partners' identities on their own, thus forming a closed loop of evidence."04Tackling difficulties - every piece of evidence must be "penetrated"(1) “Technical Penetration”**Strategy in the Second Instance
In the second instance, if it only needs to comply with the online certification process and the certification is passed, it can be deemed to have met the "formal review". Therefore, it is necessary to start from the technical level of electronic evidence, request the court to conduct a substantive penetrating review of the entire certification process, and carry out evidence and cross-examination around the following three points:
Are the specific operational procedures of the certification program in compliance with regulations?
Are the technical records during the certification process complete and true?
Is there a technical loophole in "being authenticated" instead of "authenticating myself"?
(2) Remand for retrial: The court recognized the necessity of “penetrating review”The court of second instance ultimately ruled to remand the case for retrial on the grounds that it failed to review the specific operational procedures and technical compliance of the real-name authentication program.(3) Retrial at first instance: overall victory
After the case was remanded for first instance, the administrative agency remained stubborn and adhered to its original point of view and did not take new administrative actions. But the team didn't back down. During the re-examination stage, further in-depth research will be carried out in the field of "specific operational procedures and technologies for real-name authentication procedures".
In the end, the first-instance court of retrial fully adopted the lawyer’s views, determined that there were major irregularities in the certification process, and ruled to revoke the industrial and commercial registrations of the three applicants.
05Enlightenment——The new battlefield for legal professionals: From paper signature to binary code(1) Core legal value of this case In today's increasingly developed digital economy, the battlefield for legal professionals is shifting from paper signatures to binary codes. "Face-swiping" does not equal "knowledge", and "verification code" does not equal "true intention". Every legal practitioner needs to have the ability to penetrate the technical surface and get directly to the essence of the procedure - this is the most valuable asset left to us by this case.(2) Enlightenment of three "procedural justice"
Do not give up any procedural node: if the administrative litigation fails in the first instance, an appeal will be organized quickly; if the execution procedure is blocked, an application for suspension of execution will be made simultaneously to gain a valuable buffer for the parties. At those points where others think there is no hope, one must rely on precise control of the program to find a hidden way out.
No technical details were spared: from the appearance of "passed real-name authentication" to the essence of "technical compliance of the authentication procedure", the Jingshi legal team spent two years chipping away at the ice inch by inch so that the truth could be judged justly. Never underestimate the faith of any client: when the client’s confidence collapses, the team uses professionalism and sincerity to rebuild trust.
Lawyer Profile**
Lawyer Wang Yanhong
Partner of Jingsh Law Firm
Director of Executive Supervision Legal Affairs Department
Director of Commercial Arbitration Committee of Jingshi Law Firm (National)
Member of the Contract Committee of Jingsh Law Firm (National)
Member of the Financial and Taxation Law Professional Committee of the Beijing Lawyers Association (12th session)
Arbitrator of the North Sea Arbitration Commission
Special commentator on "Rule of Law in China 60 Minutes" on the Science and Education Channel of Beijing TV Station
Director of the Board of Directors of Jingshi Law Firm Social Class People's Association
Areas of expertise:
Major, difficult and complex execution cases, execution supervision cases, criminal cases involving finance and taxation, and cases of reducing the defendant’s property penalty and recovering the victim’s property in other criminal cases.
Honors received:
In September 2020, "Highway to Realize Claims - Opening up the Last Mile of Civil Enforcement Team" won the "Winner Award" in the Northwest and Central China Division of the first "Jingshi Cup" Legal Service Product Competition;
In July 2021, "Highway to Realize Claims - Opening up the Last Mile of the Civil Enforcement Team" won the "Excellence Award" in the Quanzhou Division of the Second Legal Service Competition of Jingshi Law Firm;
In October 2021, "Execution Guide for Breaking Company Barriers" won the second prize of the Changsha Lawyers Association's first legal service product award;
In December 2023, he won the "Outstanding Lawyer Award" from the Beijing Jingshi Headquarters;
In June 2024, he was awarded the "Outstanding Communist Party Member" of Beijing Jingshi Headquarters;
Lawyer Xu Ying
Practicing lawyer at Jingsh Law Firm
Master of Laws
Professional fields: civil and commercial litigation, arbitration, and enforcement. In contract disputes, construction project disputes, marriage and family affairs, corporate legal services (equity structure design, equity disputes, shareholders’ right to know disputes, removal of legal representatives, effectiveness of shareholder resolutions, labor compliance, etc.), execution supervision, etc.