The Supreme People’s Court (SPC) has recently released four typical cases of crackdown on false litigation to provide regulatory examples for judicial practice.

False litigation goes against the principle of honesty and trustworthiness in civil litigation, disrupt normal legal proceedings, undermine judicial authority and credibility, and hinder the development of social integrity. Over the years, Chinese courts have intensified their efforts to combat false litigation, malicious lawsuits, and frivolous legal actions. 

The SPC has taken various measures, such as issuing judicial interpretations and regulations, publishing typical cases, establishing case database, and enhancing judicial supervision and guidance, to address the issue effectively.

The newly released cases involve property disputes in divorce litigation, private lending disputes, and the fraudulent withdrawal of personal housing provident funds through false litigation. The SPC has emphasized the importance of enhancing the scrutiny and review process for those types of civil cases.

In instances where false litigation behavior identified during the civil litigation process potentially constitutes a crime, the courts handling the cases are required to transfer relevant materials to the public security departments for further investigation and handling in accordance with relevant provisions issued by judicial authorities.

To ensure effective implementation of legal obligations, the SPC stated that before transferring cases involving false litigation crimes to the public security departments, fines or detentions may be imposed in advance in accordance with the Civil Procedure Law. For individuals who are found guilty of false litigation crimes and sentenced to fines, imprisonment or detention, the fines or detention already enforced in civil proceedings shall be offset against the corresponding penalties.

Furthermore, the SPC emphasized the importance of strictly adhering to the provisions of the Criminal Law and judicial interpretations in determining false litigation crimes. It is crucial to neither unduly reduce the scope of criminal law application to allow guilty individuals to evade punishment, nor inappropriately expand the application of false litigation crimes to provide opportunities for a small number of individuals to disrupt civil litigation proceedings through criminal means.

The SPC pledged to further enhance the identification, investigation and punishment of various types of false litigation crimes, and improve the quality and efficiency of case handling, to meet the higher demands of the people for judicial fairness in the new era and make greater contributions to promoting social integrity.