"All that's left to do is wait for the judgment to take effect," said Lawyer Zhou enthusiastically over the phone.
"That's wonderful, I really can't thank you enough, Lawyer Zhou," Jia Quanmin said with a smile beaming across his face.
Once he hung up the phone, he was even happier, thinking to himself, "Without you, Zhang the butcher, do we have to eat hair-covered pigs?"
Meanwhile, Old Yu, who had returned from running a small errand, was resting at home when he received a call as well.
"Lawyer Zhou, I really can't thank you enough; what would we have done without you?" Old Yu said with a smile into the phone.
It was just like the time Old Tang had helped him, and he had thanked Old Tang in turn; this moment was very much like that one. Google seaʀᴄh noveⅼfire.net
But Old Yu soon thought of another matter.
"By the way, Lawyer Zhou, since we're all getting our money back now, that means we don't have to repay the loans, right?"
Lawyer Zhou quickly responded, "Regarding the loan, you'll have to wait until the judgment takes effect and then go to the bank yourselves to apply for the dissolution of the loan contract. Yes, just take the money and go at that time."
"If the bank refuses to dissolve it and still demands loan repayment, come to me, and we'll deal with it then," Lawyer Zhou added.
"Alright, alright, thank you, Lawyer Zhou."
After hanging up, Old Yu's wife spoke up, "You see, hiring other lawyers turned out to be smooth too. I told you, we're paying for a lawyer after all."
She paused before adding, "Lawyer Tang did indeed help us a lot, but now that he's in the hospital and Tengda isn't taking over, there's nothing we can do, right?"
Old Yu nodded and said, "That's true, this Lawyer Zhou is a good lawyer too!"
The homeowners who won the case were calmly waiting for the judgment to take effect. The amount of money recouped from the developer was not disclosed, but everyone felt it wouldn't be lacking without their share.
Most crucially, the mediation agreement Old Tang originally negotiated on behalf of those homeowners with the developer and the bank meant that the bank would pay out thirty percent.
This mediation agreement wasn't made public, so the lawyers at Dafeng Law Firm didn't know the bank had actually put up money.
The bank's stance was basically, "You, Tang Fangjing, are risking your life for this case, almost losing your life over it, so we'll reluctantly offer some compensation, but that's it for anyone else."
Even if the mediation agreement leaked out, it wouldn't be a problem—anyone who wanted the bank to pay up would have to fight it out in court. The difference between a mediation agreement and a judgment was significant.
Thus, the lawyers at Dafeng Law Firm, in their advice, only targeted the developer in their complaints; the bank's name was nowhere to be found in the lawsuit documents...
Among all the homeowners, Peng Fei was unique because she was taken away for investigation without any evidence linking her to intentional homicide or any other criminal charges.
However, the investigation revealed that long before the homeowners began to assert their rights, Peng Fei had already taken money from the developer to spy for them.
That's why, as the homeowners began to demand their rights, the developer was already well-prepared.
All things considered, her actions led to her being administratively detained for fifteen days for creating disturbances.
After her release, she was surprised to find that some homeowners had already received refunds!
She too hastily joined in, looking to sue—and this time it was for real...
Fifteen days later, the developer didn't appeal, and the case moved into the execution phase.
Thanks to Lawyer Zhou's reminder, after the judgment took effect, Old Yu and his wife immediately took the judgment to the bank, looking to be done with the loan they really didn't want to repay anymore.
It was only when they reached the Tide Road branch that they discovered quite a few homeowners had the same idea.
"Hey, your family is here too? Well, we can't live in the house, who wants to keep paying the loan? As soon as the judgment came through, we hurried over," one of them said.
Jia Quanmin laughed and said, "Let's go then, but who should we speak to about this?"
About thirty homeowners entered the bank lobby together, prompting the lobby manager to hurry over and say, "Hey, hey, everyone hold on, just wait a moment!"
It took some effort to stop the crowd before asking, "What service does everyone here need? Please, tell me first so we don't all crowd together."
Jia Quanmin stepped forward and said, "Hello, we are homeowners from Victoria Garden, and we've already dissolved our contracts with the developer. Here is the judgment."
Upon hearing 'Victoria Garden,' the lobby manager's face turned ashen; Jingzhou Bank had been going through a rough patch because of this situation.
The two top executives and the legal manager had all been taken away for investigations related to non-state employee bribery charges and were facing prosecution, with a verdict expected within days.
The newly established Financial Supervisory Authority really turned up the heat; Jingzhou Bank now had an inspection team in place, with numerous investigations underway and a significant number of people disciplined.
Moreover, Jingzhou Bank was hit with a massive fine... Of course, the fine went to higher-ups, with none of it reaching the unfinished building.
"Yes, we all have judgments now, and our contracts have been dissolved. Could you also dissolve the loan agreements on your end?" another homeowner said.
"I'm really fed up with repaying a loan for a house I don't even have..."
As everyone spoke over each other, the lobby manager quickly interjected, "Wait, wait, wait! What are you trying to do, and what does this judgment have to do with us?"
Jia Quanmin signaled for the others to be quiet; she had specifically looked up the Supreme Court's legal interpretation online before coming, and now she took out her phone and said:
"You see, according to the Supreme Court's ruling, if our housing contracts are dissolved, the loan contracts are also terminated. We're here to apply for that."
The lobby manager didn't even look at it and directly said, "I don't have the authority to handle this for you. I suggest you take this to the court. Once the judgment is made there, we'll dissolve it."