Despite their grief, families affected by the 921 earthquake are starting to unite and may take joint civil action against contractors allegedly responsible for their personal and property losses.
Following the devastating quake on Sept. 21, Taiwan's prosecutors have investigated the cause of collapse for over 60 buildings and found a number of the contractors may have been negligent.
Residents of these damaged buildings have either called for government help or sought to file lawsuits against these contractors. But having suffered financially in the earthquake, they have found it difficult to begin legal action on their own.
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
Fearing the contractors would transfer their assets and ownership of their properties to evade the civil lawsuits, residents wanted a court order for the provisional detention of the contractors' properties.
Provisional attachment -- a court order for the temporary detention of a person's property -- is widely used in Taiwan by a plaintiff to secure a defendant's future payment of damages or debts.
Most of the residents found it impossible to afford the payment required by the court for the detention request, which is approximately one-third of the damages claimed.
However, Huang Ming-yang (
He said the victims could band together and possibly claim damages from the contractors by commissioning the non-governmental Consumers' Foundation (消費者文教基金會) to file a joint lawsuit under the consumer protection law.
The commission is currently working closely with the Consumers' Foundation, the sole non-governmental consumer protection organization, in assessing prospects of the joint action, which by law requires the participation of no less than 20 complainants and a cause-and-effect association.
The cause-and-effect criteria in these incidents, Huang explained, means the victims have to prove their losses were actually caused by malpractice of the contractors, in order to claim damages from them.
Huang said the most important and difficult part of the lawsuit is proof of the cause-and-effect relationship. Collecting evidence is what the residents should concentrate on, he added.
In recognition of the victims' losses, the Judicial Yuan, the island's judicial authority, has notified the courts that they should exempt those effected by the disaster from payment for requesting provisional attachment, or reduce the amount, if their claims for privileges are justifiable.
Meanwhile, bar associations around the country have also launched programs to offer consultancy services to anyone who has legal questions deriving from the earthquake.
Some victims have staged protests at several prosecutors' offices, in the hope prosecutors can act swiftly to stop unscrupulous contractors from escaping liabilities.
Other victims have asked prosecutors to seize the contractors' properties, as they could not afford the provisional attachment payment required by the court.
In response, Yen Da-ho (顏大和), director of the department of prosecutorial affairs at the Ministry of Justice, said yesterday that it was not within the prosecutors' discretion to detain the contractors' properties. Considering the financial woes that victims have suffered, Yen said, a joint civil lawsuit would be the most appropriate way to seek redress.
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