DeHeng Lawyer Secured Final Victory in Guangdong’s First Environmental Civil Public Interest Lawsuit Filed by an Administrative Authority

2024-12-31

Recently, the Guangdong Provincial High People’s Court issued a final judgment in the environmental civil public interest lawsuit filed by the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Ecology and Environment against an electronics company in Shenzhen, dismissing the company’s appeal and upholding the original judgment.  

On March 11, 2020, the Bao’an Branch of the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Ecology and Environment discovered that the industrial waste liquid collection pool of the electronics company, containing high concentrations of heavy metals, had leaked, causing severe pollution to the soil, groundwater, and surface water. To protect environmental public interests, the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Ecology and Environment, as the plaintiff, filed an environmental civil public interest lawsuit with the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court, requesting the court to order the company to cease environmental violations, remove obstacles, eliminate risks to environmental public interests, repair the damaged soil and groundwater, and compensate for environmental service function losses, surface water environmental damage, damaged soil resource value, and punitive damages, totaling over RMB 10 million. The first-instance court supported all the plaintiff’s claims.  

The company, dissatisfied with the first-instance judgment, appealed to the Guangdong Provincial High People’s Court. The case involved complex issues such as the plaintiff’s standing, allocation of the burden of proof, identification of pollution behavior and its causal relationship with damage consequences, and determination of repair costs and compensation amounts.  

Lawyer Liao Mingzong from DeHeng’s Shenzhen Office served as the legal representative for the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Ecology and Environment.