The Shilin District Court has rejected a damages claim filed by 13 foreign nationals against a Taiwanese company linked in media reports to pagers that exploded in Lebanon in 2024, ruling that the plaintiffs failed to complete the required legal authorization procedures.
The case stems from a series of pager blasts on Sept. 17, 2024, involving devices used by members of Lebanon’s Shiite militant group Hezbollah.
The explosions killed and injured multiple people, including civilians, and drew international attention after reports citing anonymous US and other officials said the devices — identified as the AR-924 model — allegedly bore "Made in Taiwan" markings and were produced by Taiwan-based Gold Apollo Co.
Photo: Taipei Times file photo
The Shilin District Prosecutors Office later found that Gold Apollo had never manufactured an AR-924 pager model and that the devices involved were produced, traded and shipped overseas by an international corporation, Frontier Group Entity.
The presence of the Gold Apollo trademark on the pagers was due to a memorandum of understanding signed in 2022 between the company and Frontier Group Entity, prosecutors said.
Under the deal, Frontier Group Entity paid an annual brand licensing fee and agreed to purchase a certain volume of other Gold Apollo products, therefore obtaining authorization to use Gold Apollo’s products and trademark, they said.
Prosecutors said they found no evidence linking Taiwanese firms or individuals to the explosions and closed the criminal investigation in November 2024.
Despite that finding, 13 foreign nationals living overseas authorized lawyers in Taiwan to file a civil lawsuit seeking damages from Gold Apollo and applied for litigation assistance.
However, the plaintiffs did not sign the civil complaint or the application for litigation aid, and their lawyers failed to submit powers of attorney authenticated by Taiwan’s overseas representative offices, the Shilin District Court said.
Under law, when a power of attorney is issued abroad and its authenticity is disputed, it must be certified by a Taiwanese overseas mission to be deemed valid.
Gold Apollo challenged the authenticity of the authorization documents, the court said.
On Nov. 10 last year, the court ordered that procedural deficiencies be corrected within 40 days.
Although the ruling was served a week later, the plaintiffs failed to submit the required authenticated documents before the deadline and did not provide sufficient justification for the delay, the court said.
As a result, the court ruled that the lawsuit and the application for litigation assistance were unlawful and dismissed them on Monday last week. The decision can be appealed.
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