Attorneys' Statement | Statement on Deciding Not to Appeal the State Compensation Lawsuit Regarding the April 28 Anti-Nuke Sit-in Eviction Incident

In the early morning of April 28, 2014, citizens staging a sit-in on Zhongxiao West Road to express their anti-nuclear demands were subjected to unlawful violence and high-pressure water cannons by police during an eviction. Fifteen citizens who suffered bodily or property damage filed claims for state compensation against the Taipei City Government and the Taipei City Government Police Department. The Taipei District Court ruled in the first instance that the Taipei City Government must compensate 12 plaintiffs over NT$420,000, and the Taipei City Government Police Department must compensate one of the plaintiffs NT$34,000 for property damage. Both parties appealed. This second-instance judgment dismissed the appeals of both the appellant and the incidental appellant. Under the law, an appeal in this case is permissible only when the combined value of the appeal interests exceeds NT$1.5 million.

Regarding this judgment, the attorneys' team issued an immediate statement emphasizing their relief that the judiciary was able to play a role in the separation of powers and checks and balances, severely correcting administrative abuses of power. In particular, the second-instance judgment held that the plaintiffs' damages were caused by the Taipei City Government's forced eviction in violation of Article 25, Paragraph 2 of the Assembly and Parade Act. The plaintiffs' continued participation in the activity was not a joint cause of the damages; hence, the rule of contributory negligence under Article 217 of the Civil Code did not apply. This restored the truth of the event, established the correct attribution of liability, and delivered justice to the plaintiffs.

However, after discussion and resolution between the attorneys' team and the plaintiffs, given that this litigation has lasted for nearly ten years and most of the plaintiffs can no longer bear the exhaustion of legal proceedings, all plaintiffs have decided not to appeal further, even though the plaintiffs' claims were not completely successful. The attorneys' team sincerely thanks all plaintiffs for their perseverance throughout the litigation process, which allowed the history of Taiwan's significant street protests to be remembered by the public through the judgment. They also hope that police authorities will fully comprehend the intent of the judgment, strengthen internal legal education, and implement standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the exercise of police powers to prevent similar incidents from happening again.

Press Contact

Lee Ming-ju, Deputy Executive Director of JRF, Attorney-at-Law (02) 2523-1178*17