Darkstone Code-Chapter 970 - 968: Verdict in Favor

Before the court session, Lynch received a call from the professor he had entrusted.

"Mr. Lynch, a sample is missing from the laboratory. I thought I should inform you about this..."

As a professor who could secure projects, he understood his laboratory and finances better than anyone.

No one could deceive him on these matters, or he wouldn’t have lasted in this field.

In the morning, as he arrived at the lab to verify some data, he discovered that one sample was missing—of the five types of dried tobacco leaves collected from different regions, along with their respective seeds.

He didn’t report to the police immediately but called Lynch instead, as you never know if employers sometimes prefer not to have the police or the investigation bureau involved in their work.

"I am a bit surprised, but it’s not a problem. You don’t need to panic."

"Just handle it your way. Don’t worry about any impact on me. Is there anything else?"

The last sentence indicated to the professor to hang up the phone and continue with whatever he needed to do.

"Nothing else. Goodbye, Mr. Lynch."

After hanging up the phone, Lynch shook his head. Actually, the details of the tobacco leaves weren’t worth keeping secret. Why is that?

Nagariel is so vast that if Shi Haoyun and Colorful Company are willing to spend money, they would surely find someone willing to collaborate with them to plant tobacco leaves there or provide samples from that area.

It’s not preventable. If they truly wanted to stop the tobacco leaves from Nagariel from being exported, the only way would be through regional extermination.

Turning the area near the origin into a no man’s land, making anybody entering a thief. Otherwise, any defense would be meaningless.

Moreover, in the Federation, Lynch has to follow rules, but outside the Federation, fists become the rule!

Ten minutes before the court session, several representatives of local shops in Bupen stood anxiously outside the courtroom, waiting for their lawyer. But, up till that moment, the lawyer had not arrived.

They hadn’t even had any further discussions prior, and they suspected that something might have gone wrong—

Of course, it had.

The cost of hiring a big lawyer is high, and the cost of hiring a big lawyer to fight a losing case is even higher, and it’s almost impossible.

Those lawyers cannot fight a losing case for anyone unless the payment is enough. But Shi Haoyun and Colorful Company would not continue paying attorney fees for these shop owners, so they had to pay themselves.

But the problem now is that they don’t even know what has happened, and even if they were willing to pay out of pocket, they might not have enough to hire a big lawyer.

Under the urging of the marshals, the court session time arrived, and they had to enter the courtroom.

After a simple procedure, the judge was somewhat surprised, "Didn’t you hire a lawyer?"

He was very surprised; not hiring a lawyer in such cases equates to a criminal voluntarily laying their head on a chopping block, calling out, "Executioner, come chop off my head."

This was incredibly astonishing!

The faces of several shop representatives also looked grim. One of them stood up, "Your Honor, our lawyer didn’t show up, and we don’t know why."

"Did you call them?", the judge asked again.

A few of them nodded, "We did, but no one answered."

The judge paused for a moment. In all his years at this job, he had never heard of lawyers who didn’t answer calls or adhere to schedules; if they did, it meant the lawyer was avoiding these people.

"Did you sign a retainer agreement with your lawyer?", he asked further.

Several shop owners shook their heads blankly. At that time, they had just signed a complaint under some salesperson’s persuasion, and someone mentioned that they would represent them for free. They didn’t know they had to sign a retainer agreement.

Despite the Federation’s comprehensive laws, not everyone is well-versed in the law. They are unaware of the more stringent liability divisions behind these comprehensive laws.

Without a retainer agreement, there is no established client relationship. The judge roughly understood the cause now.

He removed his glasses and looked towards Every Moment’s attorney. Without saying a word, Every Moment’s lawyer spoke first, "Your Honor, the session time has passed. May we proceed?"

The judge, being interrupted, understood the reason in his heart. After a moment of silence, he said, "You can see the situation now. The defendants’ lawyer didn’t come."

Every Moment’s lawyer immediately replied, "I respect your opinion, but Your Honor, that has nothing to do with me or this lawsuit. I recall there’s a provision that states in the absence of a lawyer, the defendants may defend themselves."

This provision exists to prevent situations where people can’t find a lawyer for specific reasons, forcing them to defend themselves.

This is not hypothetical. History in the Federation has seen such instances, and not just once.

No matter how much defendants spent or begged, no lawyer was willing to defend them, leaving them to face awkward and desperate situations.

Later, because a defendant requested to defend themselves on the grounds of being unable to find a lawyer, they were given such an opportunity.

But such opportunities are ineffective. Perhaps they are valuable in major cases, because major, especially criminal, cases use the jury system.

Convincing the jury doesn’t require much professional knowledge, only clear logical thinking and impactful language to make the jury believe.

However, in regular cases where the judge decides the final outcome, not having a lawyer and defending oneself is akin to jumping directly into the abyss.

After a brief silence, the judge looked at several representatives of shop owners, "Do you wish to defend yourselves?"

They were somewhat bewildered, yet they felt this might be the only option available, and they nodded.

The judge sighed and put his glasses back on.

The entire process didn’t last long. The court session concluded in under half an hour, and ultimately, these shop owners lost the case.

According to the demands of Every Moment’s legal department, each shop had to compensate Every Moment for the counter fees; those counters were only temporarily lent to them, not bought nor gifted to them.

They misplaced these items while entrusted with their safekeeping and must take responsibility.

Each counter cost twelve hundred dollars, which wasn’t very expensive.

But the subsequent lawsuit was unacceptable to them, as Every Moment believed these shop owners caused their market value to plummet by at least two billion.

And now that Every Moment’s market value has risen again, it’s unrelated to these shop owners and the current case.

It’s akin to a thief stealing a hundred dollars from someone, and then that person earned another hundred through their effort. It can’t be said that since they now have another hundred, the thief is no longer guilty of theft; it doesn’t make sense.

Every Moment’s lawyer demonstrated in multiple aspects that their current market value increase was due to the group expanding capital after a change in operational content, bearing no direct connection to the defendants or the case.

After the judge’s mediation and trial, he had to support Every Moment’s legal demand.

The entire trial process was recorded. If he made an error in judgment out of sympathy in a case involving such a large sum,

Once Every Moment appeals and demands punitive damages, it might trigger even more frightening repercussions.

Eventually, the judge reduced the demand to 1.6 billion, with over 2,100 shop owners shouldering this cost together!

It’s not actually much when you think about it; adding up all costs, each person only carries a financial burden under eighty thousand, around seventy-seven to seventy-eight thousand.

Precisely because of this, the judge didn’t lean further in anyone’s favor. Compared to possible compensations of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands later, though this amount is sizable, it wouldn’t crush their families.

After the result was announced, the shop owner representatives stood dazed, unable to accept the outcome. The judge informed them that resisting and appealing would be futile, only worsening the situation.

Their only course now is to find those who tricked them out of their counters and retrieve them, reducing loss by about one or two thousand dollars.

As for the main demand, the billion-plus compensation fund has no feasible solution because, indeed, it was their massive lawsuit coordination without Every Moment’s contractual breach that triggered these events, and they must bear liability.

Upon exiting the courtroom, a swarm of reporters surrounded the lawyers, eagerly extending microphones forward, as the Federation’s most expensive "compensation demand" historically won, and this would go down in history!

Furthermore, as lawsuits are accepted across regions, more people are becoming engaged.

Even Lynch received several requests for high-profile show interviews, hoping he would make an appearance to share his views on these matters.

"You don’t have to go, Mr. Lynch." In his office, the company’s legal department head sat across from him, "Appearing now might provoke resentment; people inherently resent the wealthy, and you are quite a famous one among them."

"Whatever you say or do, they’ll interpret it to your detriment. The best course is maintaining silence."

Lynch contemplated the legal department head’s advice for a moment before shaking his head, "My way of doing things is different from others; I don’t fear any challenges, nor do I mind letting people know my thoughts."

"As long as my heart is filled with light, people will eventually understand and approve of me, including all my decisions."

"Conversely, if I refuse to face them, they will more freely heap metaphorical sewage upon me—which I refuse to accept."

"Every penny I’ve earned is through my labor, and their defamation is the greatest insult to my efforts!"

"I will face them!"