Recently, Haikou Maritime Court settled six crew labor contract disputes and one personal injury liability dispute at sea through pre-litigation mediation by working with the Tanmen Town Maritime Judicial Service Center, which resolved conflicts and disputes at the source and reduced the burden of litigation on the parties.
“I really appreciate the work of the court. Thanks to their mediation, my financial disputes with six crew members are finally and properly settled,” said Mr. Yan on the pre-litigation mediation site, who had just received a civil ruling from the court.
On February 21st, Haikou Maritime Court received complaints concerning six crew labor contracts. Upon examination, the judges found that all the defendants were local fishermen and decided that mediation might help to resolve these disputes. Through communication with the plaintiff, the judges forwarded the electronic case documents to the Maritime Judicial Service Center (hereinafter the “service center”) for pre-litigation mediation.
During the mediation, the court’s mediation instructors and the center’s mediators seized the limited-time opportunity when fishermen were back at home from the sea to carry out pre-litigation mediation at the service center. More than a month’s efforts finally brought the parties together. In the witness of the court, mediation agreements were concluded and payments were made in part on the spot, and civil rulings were also rendered to ratify these mediation agreements.
On March 5th, Haikou Maritime Court accepted a case of dispute over liability of personal injury at sea. In this case, a man surnamed Li died in a fishing operation at sea, following which his mother, wife and son demanded personal injury compensation from the ship owner. The owner agreed to pay compensation but required the presence of the court to witness the signing of mediation agreement and the transfer of payment. Considering that the son of the deceased was a minor whose legitimate rights and interests should be fully protected, the judges offered to explain to the mother and wife the laws and regulations on the protection of the minor’s rights and interests and suggested them clarify in the mediation agreement that the portion of compensation amount due to the son should be used to cover his future education and living expenses. Under the court’s coordination, the parties signed the mediation agreement and the owner paid full indemnities to the bereaved, hence the successful mediation and final settlement of the dispute.
The service center in Tanmen Town was the first maritime judicial service center in Hainan Province established in 2023 with the joint efforts of Haikou Maritime Court and several other authorities. By bridging the last-mile gap of justice for the people, the service center aims to protect the legitimate rights and interests of fishermen and fishery enterprises and to support and safeguard the development of the ocean fishery industry. In the first quarter of 2024, the service center settled eight disputes through pre-litigation mediation, helping the people to resolve conflicts and disputes “in time” and “on the spot”.
In the future, Haikou Maritime Court will rely on the platform to provide maritime judicial services, constantly enrich the “Fengqiao Experience” model in resolving marine disputes, improve litigation-source governance, and upgrade maritime judicial services to boost the ocean fishery industry and improve the business environment.