Tokyo Barrister: Start the law firm bankruptcy

Chapter 114 Final Battle Pressure Group
October 10th is the date of the last trial of Terai v. Kawamoto Expressway case.

Because this case has a significant reference role for subsequent group lawsuits, various forces and groups in the East are closely watching the progress of this case.Then, the case came to the final court session, and the forces surging in the dark finally couldn't hold back and surfaced one after another.

9 a.m., TV TOKYO.

In the TV hall outside the studio, there was a tense atmosphere.The director, deputy director, director of the editorial department, and about thirty editors stood up from their workstations and stared at the screen.The technicians are on the equipment next to the studio, carefully adjusting the contrast between the sound and the picture.Two dozen screens on glass in the studio show images of a hotel.

The picture of the hotel shows a huge conference hall with a sign standing next to the stage,
On the signboard, the vigorous calligraphy has already shown the extraordinaryness of the host of this meeting.

There are several large characters written in pen and ink:

"Joint Press Conference of Expressway Corporation."

Suddenly, there was movement in the screen, and figures came to the stage one after another.

"Cut! Get ready to cut the screen!!!" Seeing the screen coming from the screen, the director immediately waved his hand and ordered.The entire office hall suddenly became agitated.After receiving the instruction, the hostess in the studio trembled her throat, as if she was a little nervous, she raised her head and said:
"Dear viewers, today is the last trial of the first instance of the case of Terai v. Kawamoto Expressway. Our station has received the latest news that today a total of eleven expressway companies held a joint press conference at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Tokyo at 9 o'clock to discuss the Terai case. Jointly issue a statement. This station will bring the latest broadcast footage!"

……

Tokyo, Mandarin Oriental Hotel.

There is a large banquet hall, and there is an 11-yuan sign on the table on the stage, which reads: Kanno Expressway, Nagatomo Expressway, Akasawa Expressway, Fujisawa Expressway, Nasu Expressway, Ueda Expressway, Miyajima Expressway, Matsushima Expressway, Imano Expressway, Shiratori Expressway.

Together with Kawamoto Expressway, these eleven expressway companies account for 86% of Toyo’s expressway construction share. Almost the entire Toyo’s expressway design, construction, and large-scale machinery, equipment, and labor are all under the control of these dozen highway companies. .They hold the lifeblood of almost the entire Toyo Expressway.The expressway, which flows continuously in the East every day, relies on these dozens of companies for its continuous operation.

Eleven men in suits came to the stage one after another.All of their gestures exude the unique aura of the company's leaders.The temperament of galloping between shopping malls and killing decisively pervaded like a tide in an instant.The invisible coercion almost made the audience breathless, as if they were in a barracks, facing the mighty general of the army.

As soon as the eleven men walked up the steps, the flashing lights below the stage kept ringing.From left to right, the eleven men in suits are:

Ichiro Kanno, Chairman of Kanno Expressway, Yukishi Iwasawa, Chairman of Nagatomo Expressway, Nagake Nishikawa, Chairman of Akasawa Expressway, Keita Fujisawa, Chairman of Fujisawa Expressway, Katsuri Nasu, Chairman of Nasu Expressway, Ueda, Chairman of Ueda Expressway Yasuhiro, Chairman of Miyajima Expressway Masanobu Takagi, Chairman of Matsushima Expressway Yokohisa Imamura, Chairman of Imano Expressway Shinho Kazuo, Chairman of Shiratori Expressway Shigemasa Shiratori.

The joint press conference of eleven expressway companies officially started.

Immediately after taking his seat, Kanno Ichiro, the chairman of Shenye Expressway, stood up, holding a speech in his hand, facing the swarm of journalists in the hall, coughed, and said seriously: "Recently, we have noticed that some people complained about the road surface of the expressway company. Litigation was filed on the issue of maintenance obligations. And these lawsuits led to follow-up class actions of up to [-] people."

"In view of the great impact of this case, it will have an extremely far-reaching impact on the determination of the performance of the expressway company's maintenance obligations. Accordingly, the expressway practitioners have to explain the issues related to this case for the judicial authorities to clearly understand. "

"Next, I will wait for eleven expressway companies to issue a joint statement on the case of Terai v. Kawamoto Expressway as follows."

A total of eleven expressway companies will issue a joint statement on the Terai case, which is almost unprecedented in Toyo.Dozens of cameras in the banquet hall were all aimed at Kanno, and the content of his speech was transmitted in real time to the screens of TV stations in various parts of the East.

"I am waiting for the expressway company, willing to take social responsibility and work hard to move forward. For the operating roads owned by the expressway company, we are willing to bear the liability for accidents caused by uncleared debris on the road surface. This is what our company should do. responsibility."

"However, in the case of Terai v. Kawamoto Expressway, the road involved is still owned by the Hachioji City Hall. If the judiciary decides, our expressway company must still bear the responsibility for the failure to perform maintenance obligations in time for the toll roads owned by the city hall. Then this judgment of responsibility is too heavy for us.

"The maintenance obligation of the roads involved in the case should be the Hachioji City Hall, not the expressway company. If the court decides that the expressway company should still undertake the maintenance obligation of the toll road for loan repayment, our expressway company's willingness to invest in the future will inevitably be frustrated. I don’t want to build highways in joint ventures with city halls.”

"At the same time, we also want to draw the public's attention. Most of the debris on the road comes from truck drivers. The ultimate responsibility bearer for the debris on the road should be the drivers who illegally load the goods. We implore the public to not only pay attention to the debris on the road We need to pay more attention to the root cause of the problem of cleaning up, which is the problem of illegal and overloaded road freight transportation.”

"Combining the above-mentioned main issues of this case and the ultimate responsibility bearer of the fallen objects on the road, we and the eleven expressway companies hope that the judiciary will clearly investigate the above issues and request the Shinjuku District Court to make a fair and just judgment on this case according to law!"

The moment Kanno finished speaking, the other ten chairman stood up from the stage together and bowed deeply to the reporters present.

The joint statement of eleven high-speed companies quickly spread through the TV stations, igniting public opinion, and became the headlines of instant electronic news on major news portals.

Behind the words "ask the court to judge according to law" hides a sharp cold light.Pressure groups are starting to press the courts.The attitude of the expressway company is very clear: if the court decides that Chuanben Expressway should bear the responsibility for the ineffective performance of maintenance obligations, they will completely overthrow the challenger.Eleven expressway companies will collectively boycott the road construction project of the local city hall and withdraw from the joint venture of the toll road for loan repayment.In an instant, the wind was surging, and the situation became treacherous.

……

Tokyo Television Station.

The director outside the studio was relieved when he saw that the program had safely completed the live broadcast of the joint statement of eleven expressways. He sat on a chair and shook his legs in a relaxed manner.This kind of important news moment is a moment that TV stations must not make mistakes.

Suddenly, there was a rush of footsteps outside the door of the TV hall.A TV station editor rushed into the hall. His steps staggered, and his body directly hit the file bags on the desks of other colleagues. The materials were scattered all over the floor, but he couldn't stop the editor's pace. He heard him yell loudly. road:
"Director! There is a new situation in Tokyo Bay!!! Cut the camera to Tokyo Bay!!! The Truck Drivers Union, Truck Universal Brotherhood, Kanto Drivers Federation, Freight Drivers Union, Unity Drivers Union, the five major unions will Respond to the joint statement just made by eleven expressway companies!"

(End of this chapter)