Case Introduction

A certain transportation limited liability company in Zibo argued that the Lu CXXXXX vehicle was registered under the name of our company, but the vehicle was purchased by Wang at his own expense and independently operated and managed by Wang. The operating income also belongs to Wang himself. Our company is neither the actual owner of the vehicle nor has signed a transportation contract with a certain stone business department, and is not a qualified defendant in this case and should not be held responsible.

Wang argued that the vehicle involved in the case was operated by a transportation limited liability company in Zibo. Due to Li's unreasonable deduction of freight, I was forced to exercise the right of retention. The resulting losses were caused by Li's own fault and should be borne by him. Moreover, the amount of the claimed losses does not match the actual situation. I request the dismissal of the lawsuit request from a certain stone business department.

Court Trial

After examination, the court found that a transportation contract is a contract in which the carrier transports passengers or goods from the point of origin to the agreed location, and the passenger, consignor or consignee pays the fare or transportation fees. Although the plaintiff and defendant Wang did not sign a written contract for the transportation of goods, they reached an agreement through WeChat on October 13, 2021, which is a true expression of their intentions and does not violate mandatory provisions of laws and regulations. Therefore, the contract for the transportation of goods reached between the plaintiff and defendant Wang is legally valid and binding on both parties. The defendant Wang purchased all vehicles of a transportation limited liability company in Zibo and registered them under the company's name for operation, forming a affiliation relationship between the two parties.

According to Article 836 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China, if the shipper or consignee fails to pay the freight, storage fees, and other fees, the carrier has a right of retention on the corresponding transported goods, except as otherwise agreed by the parties. In this case, if there is a dispute between the plaintiff and defendant over the weight of the stone, they should weigh it again, eliminate the dispute, and settle the shipping fee based on the facts. But the two parties failed to coordinate and handle it, resulting in the plaintiff not paying the freight, and the defendant Wang detained the transported goods. The plaintiff claims that if the defendant Wang refuses to weigh the stone again without providing evidence, the defendant Wang has a lien on the corresponding transported stone without receiving the freight. If the exercise of the right of retention results in delayed delivery of goods, it does not constitute a legal termination of the contract. Therefore, the plaintiff's request for termination of the contract is unfounded by law, and this court does not support it.

The judge's statement

The right of retention belongs to the legal security right. In a transportation contract, when the shipper or consignee does not pay the freight, the carrier may have a right of retention on the corresponding transported goods. However, attention should be paid to the degree of application of the right of retention, while protecting its own rights and interests, and avoiding the risk of using the right of retention.

Firstly, if it is explicitly agreed by law or mutual agreement to exclude the right of retention, the creditor shall not exercise the right of retention, and the actual losses incurred in such circumstances shall be borne by the carrier. Secondly, the exercise of a lien requires the following conditions: 1. The subject matter of the lien is movable property. The occurrence of a right of retention must be based on a certain contractual relationship. Such as transportation contracts, storage contracts, processing contracts, contracting contracts, etc. 3. The lien holder must have a claim. The establishment of a lien must be based on the creditor's rights arising from the subject matter of the lien, such as processing fees, storage fees, and transportation fees. 4. The occurrence of creditor's rights is related to the detained movable property, that is, the detained movable property and creditor's rights belong to the same legal relationship. 5. The debt has reached its repayment period. Thirdly, the carrier should pay attention to the limitations when exercising the right of retention. If the transported goods are separable, the value of the retained goods should include unpaid freight, storage fees, or other transportation costs plus possible litigation costs, and excessive goods cannot be retained; If the transported goods are indivisible, the carrier may retain all the goods, even if the carrier has obtained most of the freight, storage fees, and other transportation costs.

This article is transferred from the official account "Shandong Gaofa", and thanks.