Lawyer petitions court over 'fat finger' case

Yan Yiming, founder of the Yan Yiming Law Firm, has sent a petition to the president of the Supreme People's Court, asking the lower courts to deal with the Everbright Securities "fat finger" case as soon as possible, so as to restore justice to the market and investors.

"The Everbright Securities case was an extreme one in the Chinese capital market that has had a huge impact on the market and caused a large number of investors to suffer losses. To protect individual investors' rights, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, investors and lawyers have all taken action, while the only one missing is the courts," wrote Yan in the petition.

Yan filed a lawsuit on Sept 2 with Shanghai's Jing'an District People's Court on behalf of a 60-year-old investor surnamed Li, claiming about 100,000 yuan in compensation. On Sept 9, the court said that it had delayed its decision on whether to hear the case.

"It is understandable that the court would take a cautious attitude toward the case. But the time spent on studying the case should not be too long," wrote Yan in the petition. "Unfortunately, 22 working days have passed since we filed the lawsuit, but no response has yet been heard. It has violated the Civil Procedure Law, which stipulates that the court should respond to lawsuits within seven days after receipt of the writs."

Yan said that the regulatory commission has been doing its job well enough over the past few years in terms of cracking down on illegal activities and protecting investors' interests. The CSRC has changed its management and shown its resolve to clean up the market, he said.

Zhao Xigang, a lawyer at the Zhejiang L&H Law Firm, filed a similar claim on behalf of an investor surnamed Guo on Sept 3. The claim against Everbright Securities demands 45,000 yuan in compensation.

Zhao said he called the Shanghai No 1 Intermediate People's Court before the National Day holiday and was told, "the case is still being studied."