The Beijing No.2 Intermediate People's Court yesterday issued a
final judgment ordering the China National Culture and Art Company
to pay 1 million yuan (US$121,000) to the
Palace Museum (Forbidden City) in
rent for the Three Tenors concert of June 2001.
The judgment in the appeal reaffirmed the first sentence issued by
the Beijing Dongcheng District People's Court in September last
year.
The culture company signed an agreement with the Palace Museum on
June 13, 2001, 10 days before the concert. The agreement said the
company should pay fee of 2 million yuan (US$242,000) to the museum
in two installments for occupying Wumen Square in the Forbidden
City, according to the court's written ruling issued yesterday.
However, the company had only paid the museum 1 million yuan
(US$121,000) as of this month.
Yang Wenjun, the company's lawyer and the defendant in the first
instance of the case, said: "It (the reason the company did not pay
the rest of the money) is because an unfair agreement was signed,
taking advantage of my company's precarious position."
He
said the company felt obliged to comply with the museum's
requirements because the museum would not let the 1,000 workers and
200 trucks being used by the company to enter the concert site
unless the company signed the agreement.
Yang claimed the concert was part of the activities involved in
Beijing's bid for the 2008 Olympic Games and said it was against
the public interest to take his company to court.
In
the appeal, the Beijing No.2 Intermediate People's Court reaffirmed
the decision of the Dongcheng District People's Court that the
company did not provide sufficient proof of Yang's claim that the
agreement had been signed under duress.
Both parties of a contract should fulfill their commitments, said
Zhang Lei, the judge. The culture company could not refuse to pay
the rental fee just because it considered that fee to be too high,
added Zhang.
The judgment in the appeal was made according to the Civil
Procedure Law of China, Zhang explained.
Huang Zhejing, the Palace Museum's representative, said: "I am
satisfied with the final judgment."
(China Daily February 27, 2003)