Chapter 32 – Court Hearing

The deadlock in their personal lives remained, but work had to proceed as usual. On the day of the training, Bian Ji rushed to the headquarters building, armed with a PowerPoint presentation and lecture notes that he had revised twice but still used the template from two years ago, ready to instruct the new air crew members.

Bian Ji knew that many of the key points had been covered in previous trainings, so this time, he focused mainly on case studies. Over his decade-long career, he had encountered numerous incidents, aside from the AD801 mid-air fire, there were plenty of emergency response cases to discuss.

Bian Ji loved engaging with his audience during his lectures. Whenever a new event arose, he would randomly call upon six newcomers to simulate the scenario.

As one of the new batch of flight attendants, Yan Fanxuan was among the audience. She couldn’t help but secretly snap a photo of “Teacher Bian,” who appeared poised and charming in his uniform on stage, and sent it to her brother.

[Brother, isn’t your creditor a bit too handsome?][Image][Image][Absolutely stunning, he’s even better looking in person!][So you’ve been eating well? Why didn’t you say so earlier?][Brother, you’re not being fair! I’m going to diss you!!]Yan Ankuo had just begun his court hearing and hadn’t checked his phone, thus he was unaware that messages from his dear sister had flooded his chat window.

On the defendant’s bench sat the airline’s lawyer. He was Yan Ankuo’s senior, known for his aggressive style and penchant for taking risks.

They had faced each other in court once before, when Yan Ankuo was fresh out of school and had been overshadowed by his senior, who was at the peak of his career. This reunion inevitably stirred up mixed feelings.

The court hearing commenced with the usual announcements, the judge read out the statements, and conducted a court investigation.

The opposing lawyer immediately listed a series of accusations, suggesting that Qiao Yuan had received gifts from passengers first, and only returned the money after receiving a notice of investigation out of fear, making the company’s punishment entirely justified. Therefore, Qiao Yuan’s dissatisfaction with the disciplinary action and subsequent resignation was a personal choice, for which he should compensate with a hefty training fee according to the employment contract.

In contrast, Yan Ankuo’s appeal argued that Qiao Yuan had never intended to accept money, rather, Zhang Dong had long admired Qiao Yuan and repeatedly harassed him; moreover, the company had violated its contractual obligations by withholding benefits, giving the appellant the right to terminate the contract without liability.

The central focus of the legal arguments was clear – whether the company’s grounding of Qiao Yuan was lawful.

During the evidence submission phase, after the judge read out the list of evidence, he asked the appellant and defendant if they had any new evidence to submit. Yan Ankuo, as the appellant’s representative, shook his head indicating no; however, the defendant’s representative stood up and said, “I wish to submit new evidence.”

This sudden move caused ripples, and the judge’s expression clearly showed displeasure. “Please provide a valid reason for submitting evidence past the deadline, otherwise, the court may legally disregard this evidence or impose penalties on the late party.”

The defendant’s representative maintained his composure. “The defendant’s phone data has been cleared, and we only retrieved the records from the telecommunications company today. A call was made by A Airline’s HR to the appellant at 3 PM on March 9th, to investigate the whereabouts of the 20,000 yuan repayment. This proves that the appellant repaid the money under duress after the investigation, indicating an intention to receive payment.”

“Bullshit!” Qiao Yuan, unable to hold back, leaped up from his seat, bypassing Yan Ankuo. “The investigation started the next day, I remember it clearly!”

“Please have the appellant take his seat and remain silent.”

“…Sorry.” Qiao Yuan took a deep breath and returned to his seat. Yan Ankuo gave him a reassuring glance, signaling him not to panic.

The call at 3 PM on March 9th, before Qiao Yuan’s repayment, was indeed disadvantageous to them. Yan Ankuo clenched his fists, needing a moment to compose himself.

The judge, now holding the new evidence, turned to Yan Ankuo. “The appellant received a 20,000 yuan transfer from Zhang Dong at 2 PM on March 1st, 2023, and returned it at 10 PM on March 9th. Why was there an eight-day gap?”

Yan Ankuo, having thoroughly investigated the situation beforehand, responded promptly. “At the time, the appellant’s father was undergoing surgery, and the appellant was busy attending to him in the hospital, without any bank transaction alerts enabled. Moreover, Zhang Dong provided no explanation for the transfer, making it difficult to discover promptly.”

The judge nodded, then asked the defendant’s representative, “The new evidence you submitted just now is a call record with Qiao Yuan at 8 PM on March 9th, lasting 1 minute and 45 seconds. Is there a recording of the call content?”

“No, the defendant recently changed phones and the data was wiped. The telecommunications company could not provide the relevant recording.”

Upon hearing this, Yan Ankuo finally breathed a sigh of relief. While the new evidence was detrimental to them, it didn’t make the situation too dire.

The judge posed several more questions to both parties for supplementary investigation, summarized the main points of the hearing, and then began the court debate.

Yan Ankuo pulled out a page highlighted with red tags from the stack of case materials, flipping through it while inquiring, “Since the defendant doesn’t have a recording of the call, how can it prove that it was related to an investigation?”

The defendant’s representative replied calmly, “However, the appellant also lacks evidence to show that his repayment occurred before the investigation.”

It had become a case of Rashomon, where everyone had their own version of truth.

Yan Ankuo chuckled softly, leaning slightly forward, his hands resting on the files. “As the party asserting disciplinary action, the defendant should bear the burden of proof against the punished party. To issue discipline without clear evidence, I believe, constitutes failure to provide evidence and a lack of clarity in facts.”

His words carried weight, and the opposing side was quick to respond, unwilling to be outdone. “We have already submitted relevant evidence and fully explained it during the court investigation!”

Yan Ankuo didn’t budge, locking eyes with the defendant’s representative as he asked, “Then, do you think the evidence submitted just now is serious enough to warrant a two-year grounding?”

The defendant’s representative wore black-rimmed glasses, behind which his eyes reflected wisdom and sharpness. “I do.”

“Do you think the appellant’s resignation due to dissatisfaction with the disciplinary action inflicted a 1.1 million yuan loss on the company?”

Experienced lawyers could detect the trap in such leading questions. The defendant’s representative, equally seasoned, didn’t bite easily. “The petition has already outlined the method for calculating the 1.1 million yuan, which includes pilot training fees and damages for wrongful termination of the employment contract.”

Yan Ankuo narrowed his eyes slightly, putting on a pair of glasses he rarely used, and gave a slight nod to the opposite side. “But according to the invoices and training cost lists you provided, we found that 560,000 yuan is for service fees and 3.01 million yuan is for maintenance fees, neither of which are mandatory for pilot training. Why should the appellant be required to compensate for these?”

Scrutinizing the details of invoices was a common tactic in court debates involving economic disputes, and the opposing side handled it smoothly. “Some invoices were issued for reimbursement procedures or internal approval needs of suppliers and didn’t uniformly specify ‘training,’ but they were all for training services!”

If delved into further, this matter held significant implications, posing a substantial disadvantage to the airline’s claim for compensation. The defendant’s representative had anticipated this and was prepared for Yan Ankuo’s question. Unexpectedly, Yan Ankuo didn’t pursue it further but shifted to another topic. “Since you mentioned training, I have other questions.”

Yan Ankuo had interacted with today’s judge several times and knew his style well – thorough, principled, and disliking aggression – therefore, he chose to stop at the right moment, planting the seed of doubt, leaving the rest for the judge to decide on his own.

“Evidence item 18 submitted by our side shows that all training completed by the appellant in 2012 was conducted by Xingyuan Aviation Development Technology Co. Ltd. This company has a complex equity structure, has been subject to administrative penalties multiple times, and its pricing is significantly higher than market rates. Why did A Airline choose this company as a supplier?”

Yan Ankuo presented the evidence results to the judge. “After three layers of investigation, we can find that Liu Fangming, the financial manager of this company, is the nephew of Zhang Ji, the executive director of A Airline. And Zhang Ji is the father of Zhang Dong, who initiated the transfer to the appellant in this case.”

Yan Ankuo paused, staring intently at the opposing lawyer, smiling. “May I ask, does the defendant consider these mere coincidences?”

Highlighting the nepotism within the airline to disrupt the opponent’s courtroom rhythm was a strategy that Yan Ankuo’s opponent had expected.

The defendant’s representative adjusted his glasses, remaining calm. “We believe that the business status of the enterprise is irrelevant to this case and is not a necessary element for examination in court.”

Avoiding the question was the safest response.

The defendant’s representative looked at the presiding judge, who was a middle-aged man, and he nodded slightly. “Agreed. Please have the appellant return to the case’s main focus in your questioning.”

Yan Ankuo knew when to stop, after all, he had already raised the doubts that needed to be addressed, there was no need to relentlessly press the point. The real trump card lay ahead.

He brought up evidence regarding job transfer requests and displayed it. “Then, please answer why the appellant’s repeated job transfer applications were rejected by the training department? Why was an excellent pilot with ten years of flying experience required to undertake ground staff duties that he wasn’t proficient in?”

Upon finishing his statement, Yan Ankuo circled the name on the evidence screen as if afraid that others wouldn’t see it. “By the way, the head of the training department is Liu Fangming’s younger brother.”

This implied that Zhang Ji was exerting pressure on Qiao Yuan for his son’s sake, using his connections within the company to threaten the young pilot who didn’t know his place.

The defendant’s representative didn’t need to explain the subtext, only answering the question. “We have emphasized multiple times during the court investigation that due to Qiao Yuan’s severe violations, strict regulations must be enforced, hence the request to transfer to the training department was denied.”

There was actually a flaw in this argument. If regulations had to be strictly enforced, why was a transfer to ground staff allowed? Wasn’t this a clear manipulation of Qiao Yuan’s reluctance to leave the skies?

Yan Ankuo had a clear understanding of this and pressed his advantage. “The defendant has repeatedly mentioned ‘regulations,’ indicating that A Airline is a company that places great emphasis on procedural compliance.”

The defendant’s representative felt a chill, sensing that his junior was about to criticize before praising.

As expected, Yan Ankuo circled the suspicious parts in the dense evidence list. “But why, in terms of employee benefits, has there been repeated violation of contractual stipulations?”

The defendant’s representative was taken aback, turning sharply to look at the defendant.

As a lawyer, he had confirmed the welfare details with the airline multiple times before the trial, receiving assurances that all salary and benefits had been fully paid. Now, facing accusations of breach of contract, he felt more aggrieved than the appellant, but he had to find a way around it regardless.

The presiding judge narrowed his eyes, his expression grave. “Please have the appellant detail the evidence and facts.”

Yan Ankuo crossed his fingers in front of the appellant’s sign, speaking calmly and confidently. “According to the employment contract signed between A Airline and the appellant, as well as its recruitment announcement for pilots, Mr. Qiao Yuan’s salary structure includes base salary, flight allowance, housing provident fund, transportation allowance, and social insurance, work injury insurance, and grounding insurance. Among these, grounding insurance should have been arranged simultaneously upon employment.

“However, by checking Mr. Qiao’s personal insurance records, we find that this insurance has not been arranged to this day, resulting in Mr. Qiao being unable to receive grounding allowances.

“Furthermore, Labor Arbitration No. XX determined that, in addition to bearing high training fee losses for early termination of the employment contract, the appellant must comply with non-compete agreement arrangements, forbidding engagement in the industry for three years.

“However, according to the provisions of the Employment Contract Law, non-compete agreements apply only to employers’ senior management, senior technical personnel, and others with confidentiality obligations [2], ordinary pilots are not included. The determination of the effectiveness of this agreement in Arbitration No. XX constitutes unclear fact-finding; the defendant only notified the appellant to sign this agreement after employment, which falls short of procedural compliance.”

After listing everything, Yan Ankuo reiterated the requests in the appeal, his tone steady and his gaze firm. “Therefore, we assert the revocation of Arbitration No. XX and lawfully rule that the appellant is free of liability in terminating the employment contract and non-compete agreement, and that the defendant should pay the appellant 2.6 million yuan in grounding allowances.”

The courtroom fell silent for a moment as the judge pondered, nodding slightly. Yan Ankuo removed his glasses and looked towards the defendant’s bench, a gentle smile on his face, as if the relentless person from before was someone else entirely.