Yes, lawsuits are always fun to discuss, particularly when the markets are down and everyone is worried about getting downsized from work.

Here’s a good one brought to us from the always litigious Danwei (comment after the quote):

Today’s Beijing Times reports on a legal case in which Huang Jing, a young woman who had earlier been accused by computer hardware maker ASUS for extortion, decided to countersue for defamation, selling defected products, and false accusation. The newspaper also reported that Huang demanded a reparation from the State for being "jailed for ten months" before being released due to insufficient evidence.

Huang’s ordeal with ASUS started when she was still a university student on February 9, 2006. She bought a V6800V model ASUS laptop from a Beijing retailer. Her computer had many problems including frequent blue screen freeze-ups.

Despite Huang sending back the computer several times for repairs by the ASUS, some of the problems remained. The last time ASUS repaired Zhou’s computer, they replaced the CPU, but the new CPU overheated. Examination showed that the new CPU was an Intel "engineering sample" of a kind not permitted to be sold in the market.

Huang and her lawyer, Zhou Chengyu, demanded that ASUS to pay a compensation of five million US dollars, threatening to break the news to the media and take ASUS to court. After rounds of unsuccessful negotiations, ASUS finally rejected all of Zhou’s request. Earlier reports quoted Zhou as saying to ASUS that the company "spends tens of millions of yuan on promotion in the Mainland market; if the news was released to the media, the loss of market share would be far beyond 5 million US dollars."

On March 7, 2006 when Huang and Zhou went to ASUS for the last time, they were both arrested by the police at the request of ASUS on charges of extortion.

In December 2006, Huang released from jail, on parole until her trial. In 2007, the Haidian District procurator issued a decision of exemption from criminal prosecution to Huang deeming the evidence against her inadequate.

Aside from her lawsuit, Huang has also put up a website listing the alleged incidents of ASUS cheating on customers.

Disgruntled customers using media exposure as leverage to bargain with companies is becoming a common phenomenon. This year has seen car owners and home buyers demanding compensation or refunds, threatening negative media coverages.

The usual reaction to a story like this is to blame the "unscrupulous" lawyer. In many cases, I would defend the poor guy, but in this instance, I won’t. I don’t have a problem with threatening to go to the media. That’s standard operating procedure, and I think fair. Nothing wrong with going public with the facts, as long as you don’t go too far and make stuff up.

No, the problem I have is asking for 5 million bucks. That’s outrageous and shows that this lawyer isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer. If you don’t ask for a reasonable amount, you will get rejected and make the other party emotional.

All this being said, what is an appropriate punishment for the lawyer and his client. Well, jail time is a bit much. For the client, unless you can prove that the person was spouting off lies purposely in order to harm the reputation of the company, there should be no repercussions (and certainly no jail time, maybe just a civil lawsuit for libel or slander — "defamation" in the article).

For the lawyer, some would call for sanctions. There are frivolous lawsuits out there and unscrupulous tactics, and I agree that sometimes sanctions are a good thing. Take away a license, impose fines, etc. All well and good if the situation warrants.

But in this case, the lawyer was just being stupid. The lawsuit itself was not frivolous, it was just the amount that was ridiculous. Can’t really impose sanctions for that.

Conclusion: criticize the hell out of this clown of a litigator, but don’t throw him in jail.

P.S.: Should society discourage frivolous lawsuits? Sure. What’s the best way to do this? Regulate the legal profession better, don’t go after plaintiffs. Believe me, imposing some stiff fines and taking away a few lawyers’ licenses will send a strong message.