What's wrong with this lawyer?!

"General Manager Tan, you were looking for me?"

Tan Lizhong nodded: "Have you received all the documents sent by the court?"

Yan Xuemei nodded: "I've received everything."

Tan Lidong immediately added: "Alright, I'll leave the legal matters to you professionals. I have just one request—our company must avoid taking responsibility as much as possible."

"After all, you also understand the circumstances of this accident. To be honest, it has nothing at all to do with our company. But there are certain things we absolutely can't say in court, you understand, right?"

Upon hearing this, Yan Xuemei quickly nodded and said: "General Manager Tan, I understand. I'll get to work now."

If the other party had only sued Hanxi Construction, Yan Xuemei's maneuvering space would naturally have been very limited.

However, since the other party sued multiple parties, this made things much easier.

And so, the court hearing day finally arrived.

As usual, Old Tang sat quietly in the plaintiff's seat, waiting. Today, this court was the largest courtroom in Anchang District Court.

No choice—it was too crowded.

Among the defendants were Hanxi Construction, Dekang Construction, and Sichuan Province's Risheng Company, while Dezheng Company, Modu Liming Company, Dayi Company, and subcontractor Qi Baohui were third parties.

Originally, the subcontractor hired by Risheng Company could also have been listed as a co-defendant, but Old Tang didn't do so.

The reason was simple—the risks of suing an individual were much higher compared to suing a corporation!

It was too easy to win a case but never recover any money, so suing companies was safer.

As for whether Risheng Company wanted to take legal action against the subcontractor after losing, that would be their own business.

The room was packed full of people. The legal director of Dayi Company sat there looking dejected and helpless.

Although they were attending as a third party, just seeing Old Tang made him uncomfortable, dreading that their side might inexplicably be held liable.

Finally, the hearing began!

Old Tang's side naturally relied on the accident investigation report to build their case, while the defense strategies of the three defendants varied.

Yan Xuemei was the first to speak: "Although our company is the general contractor for the project, according to the safety production agreement between us and Dekang Company, safety responsibilities for this project should rest with Dekang Company..."

There wasn't much else—she went straight to the safety production agreement to make her point.

While it was true that the general contractor must ensure project safety, the safety production agreement wasn't signed casually. Yan Xuemei meticulously listed several clauses to prove that Dekang Company had indeed been at fault.

Old Tang didn't say a word because he needed to wait until all three defendants had presented their arguments before he could refute them.

Moreover, since the order of defense wasn't arranged by company hierarchy, the next to respond was Sichuan Province's Risheng Company.

Risheng Company, unsurprisingly, presented a similar safety agreement, arguing that Dekang Company should bear the responsibility for the accident.

Hearing this, Old Tang, who had been thinking about formulating his rebuttal, silently stopped himself.

Sure enough, the legal representative for Dekang Company was already panicking.

"We do not agree with the positions of Hanxi Construction and Risheng Company. Firstly, the safety production agreement cannot fully absolve one party of responsibility!"

"Additionally, Hanxi Construction has not provided evidence to prove that it fulfilled its safety management responsibilities..."

To put it plainly, if you claim the other party disregarded safety protocols, then you must prove you managed them properly in the first place.

And even if you prove that you did manage them, you would still bear some responsibility because, as the general contractor, you are obligated to oversee the entire project.

"The same applies to Risheng Company..."

Dekang Company's agent first stood up and fired shots at the other two defendants. Although all of them were defendants in the case, they were far from allies—they were adversaries!

After finishing with them, the agent continued:

"We do not recognize the accident investigation report issued by Hanxi Construction..."

In other words, as the general contractor, you do not have the authority to conduct this investigation.

Furthermore, Dekang Company presented evidence that, when Hanxi Construction submitted its investigation report to the company, Dekang Company had formally issued a letter explicitly denying its validity.

They also presented a series of letters, WeChat conversations, phone recordings, etc., to prove that they had never accepted Hanxi Construction's investigation report.

After presenting their evidence, Old Tang finally spoke up.

He had to refute this; otherwise, if the investigation report was invalidated, it would become very difficult to assign responsibility.

"I need to point something out: though they use various letters to argue that they didn't agree with Hanxi Construction's investigation report, during the entire investigation process and even after it concluded, no one reported this to the relevant authorities!"

"If they thought the investigation report was problematic, the first step should have been to notify the relevant authorities to have them conduct an independent investigation instead of getting into a dispute with Hanxi Construction!"

This was a critical point—why didn't you report it at the time?

What does your internal bickering have to do with me?

At the very least, based on your lack of reporting, it suggests that this investigation report was likely valid.

The face of Dekang Company's legal representative immediately turned ashen.

With this key issue resolved, the rest involved dividing up responsibility.

After two hearings, a verdict was finally reached: the three defendants were ordered to jointly pay Lin Youliang a total of 3.26 million yuan for emotional damages, equipment expenses, and other costs.

Among them, Dekang Company was the most unfortunate, shouldering 80% of the responsibility, while the other two companies each bore 10%.

Once the judgment was pronounced, all three defendants announced on the spot that they would appeal!

However, as expected, the Intermediate Court of Xiping City rejected the appeal and upheld the original verdict.

Finally, the case entered the enforcement stage. The opposing side remained unresponsive, prompting Old Tang to apply for mandatory enforcement yet again.

Apparently, news from the Lanhe District Court had reached the Anchang District Court's Enforcement Bureau, which took it seriously. Within days, Hanxi Construction and Risheng Company's compensation payments were delivered.

But there was an issue with Dekang Company's payment.

"What? Are you saying Dekang Company currently has no money in its accounts and is carrying a lot of debt?" Old Tang asked the execution judge in front of him.

"That's impossible. I remember that project was only completed this year. Dekang Company should have just received payment for the project. How could they have no money? When was it transferred?"