CHAPTER 131: CHAPTER 117: IS IT STILL POSSIBLE FOR ME TO GET A DIVORCE NOW?_4

Fearing to provoke the dissatisfaction of this group of people, she was particularly polite towards Qing Lan, who stood at the very front.

Qing Lan gave a bitter smile and handed her complaint directly to the staff.

Actually, she hadn’t expected... that just by submitting a complaint, they would cause such a big commotion. So many people openly "storming" the court would definitely hit the headlines in Zizhou the next day.

The staff member in charge of reception took Qing Lan’s complaint. Not daring to neglect his duty, he carefully reviewed it.

The complaint’s format was standardized and had no issues. The description of the incident was also very detailed.

But regarding the civil claims... the compensation demand startled him again.

Qing Lan had written that her 120-square-meter house had been damaged, claiming 6.3 million yuan in compensation. Additionally, she claimed for mental distress, lost wages, and nutritional expenses, totaling 6.4 million yuan.

"We have an appraisal report. It states our house has become uninhabitable because the owner of unit 401 illegally demolished a load-bearing wall," Qing Lan hurriedly explained, seeing the staff member’s surprise.

She also presented photos, video materials, and a house risk appraisal report for all seven buildings. A series of evidence had been fully and properly prepared. These were all things Qin Mu had reminded her about.

The staff member closely inspected these documents and evidence, a hint of amazement on his face.

Then he said, "The evidence is sufficient. You can leave the complaint here. We will notify you by phone once the case review is done."

Immediately after, he turned his head and looked at the other people behind Qing Lan.

"Next."

One of the property owners behind Qing Lan stepped forward nervously and submitted his complaint.

The cause for all complaints was the same: the building had become dangerous due to the removal of a load-bearing wall. However, the civil demands varied.

Therefore, he had to carefully inspect each complaint, still fearing he might make a mistake or provoke the anger of this crowd.

Time slowly passed. By noon, he had finished accepting all the complaints.

"Everyone... you can go back and wait for news now. Given the completeness of the evidence, the cases should be filed soon," the receptionist said to Qing Lan and the others, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

God knows how he had managed those past few hours.

Qing Lan and the others were equally on edge; court officers had been watching them all morning.

After submitting the complaints, she immediately led all the property owners out of the court in a large procession.

After everyone had left, the case filing center urgently convened a meeting to discuss strategies for handling these 359 complaints.

"In all its decades, our Zizhou Court has never encountered anything like this. Hundreds of plaintiffs?"

"The key issue now isn’t the hundreds of plaintiffs, but the massive compensation!"

"I checked the litigation requests from these property owners. They are all reasonable, consistent with market rates, and not exorbitant demands."

"But with 359 litigation requests, a preliminary estimate puts the total claims above two billion yuan."

"This case involves a major criminal offense. Should we consult the police station first...?"

"..."

This major joint lawsuit involved a large number of people and had a huge impact on the community. They had to handle it cautiously.

The submitted complaints and evidence were all very complete, so there was no reason to dismiss them. Filing the cases was definitely necessary. However, after filing, the court also needed to consider the issue of penalties.

"How about this? Since the case involves a criminal offense, we’ll file it first. Then, we’ll wait for the public prosecution notice from the prosecutor’s office and schedule a joint hearing..."

「Two hours later.」

The staff at the case filing center, thoroughly overwhelmed, finally devised a solution. Typically, in cases like this, civil lawsuits accompany criminal suits initiated by the public prosecution. But with over three hundred victims actively seeking justice, they could not simply stand by. Nor could they schedule in advance. They could only wait for the criminal prosecution and then schedule a joint court session.

...

「Meanwhile.」

「In Zizhou.」

「At a certain detention center.」

A police officer informed Ouyang Qian, "After our multiple investigations and professional assessments, the unsafe state of the building was indeed caused by your unit 401 forcibly removing the load-bearing wall. Prepare to hire a lawyer."

She felt utterly drained and slumped into the interrogation chair.

She had cooperated fully throughout her detention at the police station.

But she hadn’t expected such an outcome.

"By the way, your husband has arranged for bail pending trial. You can leave now," the police officer who delivered the notice said, glancing at her before speaking again.

Ouyang Qian was momentarily stunned. Hope reignited in her eyes.

Her husband’s name was Chu Quan. He was somewhat renowned in Zizhou as the owner of a large company. His business had been thriving over the years. He was usually very good to her, always reluctant to let her suffer even the slightest distress.

It was just that recently, they had a disagreement and an argument. Consequently, she had been in charge of renovating their new house.

And now that such a significant problem had arisen... She had even been blaming Chu Quan for not coming to see her immediately. But to think... Chu Quan had been arranging bail for her! Although she didn’t fully understand what bail pending trial was, she had seen it a few times on TV dramas. It seemed that you didn’t have to be detained before the trial and could enjoy some freedom.