Appeal against lawsuit between truck driver and Vinh City Police rejected

(Baonghean.vn) - The appellate panel held that the first instance judgment was correct, driver Phan Dinh Anh's appeal had no legal basis, so the appeal was rejected.

On October 17, the People's Court of Nghe An Province opened an appeal hearing for an administrative case, rejecting the appeal of truck driver Phan Dinh Anh to cancel the decision on administrative penalty by the Vinh City Police Chief, upholding the original judgment of the Vinh City People's Court. At the same time, it rejected the appeal of Ms. Truong Thi Minh to request the Vinh City Police to compensate her with more than 42 million VND.

As reported by Nghe An Newspaper, on the morning of March 8, 2016, Mr. Phan Dinh Anh (born in 1983, residing in Phuc Son commune, Anh Son), driver of Vo Minh transport company, drove a truck from Mai Hac De street to Le Loi street, Vinh city.

Plaintiff and defendant representatives at the appeal hearing. Photo: Khanh An

On this road section, there is a sign prohibiting trucks (sign 106b) with a total weight of 4 tons or more from 6am to 10pm every day. The Traffic Police Team of Vinh City Police signaled the vehicle to stop for inspection and reported the violation of entering the prohibited road, but the driver Anh did not cooperate and did not present the vehicle documents for work.

Traffic police were forced to take the car back to the headquarters and make a record of the incident in the presence of local residents. On March 17, 2016, Vinh City Police issued a decision to administratively fine driver Phan Dinh Anh for the following violations: entering a prohibited road, not complying with the request for inspection and control by officials on duty, not carrying a certificate of technical safety and environmental protection inspection, not carrying a driver's license; not carrying a vehicle registration... The total fine was 4.9 million VND, and the vehicle was detained for 9 days.

Disagreeing, driver Phan Dinh Anh filed a lawsuit against the administrative decision of Vinh City Police in court, requesting to annul the administrative penalty decision of the Vinh City Police Chief and return the amount of 4.9 million VND to Anh. Ms. Minh filed a lawsuit requesting Vinh City Police to compensate the amount of more than 45 million VND.

After 4 days of deliberation, on the morning of May 29, Vinh City People's Court issued a verdict on the administrative lawsuit between the plaintiff, truck driver Phan Dinh Anh, and the defendant, Vinh City Police.

Controversial sign. Photo: Khanh An

The first-instance court dismissed Mr. Phan Dinh Anh’s lawsuit requesting the cancellation of the decision on administrative penalty by Vinh City Police; and rejected Ms. Truong Thi Minh’s request for compensation for damages, representing Vo Minh Enterprise. Driver Phan Dinh Anh and Ms. Truong Thi Minh must pay the first-instance civil court fees as prescribed.

Disagreeing with the above verdict, driver Phan Dinh Anh and Ms. Truong Thi Minh filed an appeal to the People's Court of Nghe An province.

The appellate panel held that the decision of Vinh City Police to fine driver Phan Dinh Anh was in accordance with the law, Anh's appeal was unfounded, and the first instance judgment was correct. Considering the request of the person with related obligations and rights, Ms. Truong Thi Minh, to appeal for compensation of 42 million VND, considering that the administrative fine of Vinh City Police was in accordance with the law, Ms. Minh's appeal was unfounded for consideration.

Regarding the court fees at the trial, Ms. Minh determined that the compensation request was 42 million, not 45 million VND, so it was necessary to partially correct the first-instance court fees, forcing Ms. Minh to pay more than 2.1 million VND in first-instance criminal court fees. The appeal of driver Anh and Ms. Minh was not accepted, so they had to pay the appeal court fees.

After the appellate court announced the verdict, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Vo (authorized representative of driver Phan Dinh Anh) and Ms. Minh said they would file a complaint against the appellate verdict to the Supreme Court.

Khanh An