Empirical Study On Compensation For Environmental Damage In China

With the increasing number of environmental pollution litigation cases,the judicial and theoretical circles are paying more and more attention to environmental pollution litigation.This study uses the method of empirical analysis to disassemble the specific content of 2767 judicial decisions in China from the types and quantities of judicial decisions,court levels,media involved,litigation participants,litigation claims,judgment reasons,and judgment results,it analyzes the implementation of the current environmental damage compensation system and the existing problems.Finally,it puts forward the optimization strategy.At the same time,it analyzes the factors affecting the judgment,and provides guidance and suggestions for improving the probability of the plaintiff winning the lawsuit.The main conclusions are as follows:(1)The total number of judicial decisions in China has been increasing year by year,especially since 2013.From the point of view of spatial distribution,the number of judicial decisions in Jilin,Jiangsu,Henan and other regions is larger,while the number of judicial decisions in Hainan,Gansu,Qinghai and other regions is smaller,and the number of differences is larger.In terms of media involved,the number of cases involving atmosphere increases year by year after the decline in 2012 and 2013.The number of cases involving water is the most,followed by noise.There are more cases involved soil in Xinjiang,Jilin and Tianjin,more cases involved noise in Tianjin,Jiangsu and Beijing,more cases involved water in Jiangsu,Shandong and Chongqing,and more cases involved atmosphere in Guangxi,Anhui and Jiangsu.There are 2847 judgments,3644 orders and 42 mediation documents,which means that there are more obstacles in the procedure of the case.(2)In terms of the nature of litigants,the plaintiffs are mostly natural persons,and the defendants are mostly legal persons or other organizations;in terms of the number of litigants,the number of single plaintiffs is larger and the number of defendants is more evenly distributed;the plaintiffs and the defendants are more inclined to hire lawyers,the plaintiffs from Beijing,Liaoning and Gansu are not inclined to hire lawyers.,the defendents from Guizhou,Shaanxi and Gansu are not inclined to hire lawyers.The defendant's industries are mostly manufacturing,followed by electricity,hot gas,water production and supply,mining ranks third,agriculture,forestry,animal husbandry and fishery mostly in Heilongjiang,Zhejiang and Hunan provinces;mining mostly in Henan,Shaanxi and Ningxia;manufacturing mostly in Beijing and Shanghai.Shanxi,Jiangsu,Anhui,Jiangxi,Shandong,Hubei and Guangxi;power,hot gas,water production and supply industries mostly in Hebei,Inner Mongolia,Jilin,Gansu and Qinghai;transportation,warehousing and postal mostly in Fujian and Sichuan;real estate industry mostly in Tianjin and Liaoning.water conservancy,environmental and public facilities management industries mostly in Guangdong;scientific research and technical services industries mostly in Guizhou;construction industry mostly in Chongqing.(3)the plaintiffs claim is relatively simple,most of which is compensation for losses,followed by stopping infringement.The supporting litigation claim is first to compensate for the losses,followed by stopping infringement and removing obstacles.Jiangsu,Hainan and Yunnan provinces have the highest average amount of compensation,while Jiangsu,Shandong and Yunnan provinces have the highest actual amount of compensation.The average amount of compensation and the average amount of actual compensation have not fluctuated greatly in the past five years.The most cited laws are the Tort Liability Law of the People's Republic of China,the Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China and the Environmental Protection Law of the People's Republic of China,which are 50.5%,50.2%and 21.5%respectively.(4)The winning rates were higher in Guizhou,Xinjiang and Hunan,and lower in Chongqing,Jilin and Guangdong.The number of appeals is increasing year by year,and in 2017 the number of appeals is 18.4%of the total documents.The number of retrial is also increasing year by year except in 2014,which shows that the legitimacy of judicial decisions is insufficient.(5)The plaintiff is a social organization,the defendant is a legal person,the defendant's profession and the claim for damages are the indicators affecting the success of the lawsuit in all dismantling indicators.Among them,the plaintiff is a social organization and the rate of winning a lawsuit has a significant positive correlation,the defendant is a legal person and the rate of winning a lawsuit has a significant negative correlation.The defendant industry has a significant positive correlation with the rate of winning a lawsuit,and the claim for compensation is a significant positive correlation with the rate of winning a lawsuit.This shows that if we want to improve the possibility of winning a lawsuit for environmental damage compensation,we can choose to bring a lawsuit with social organizations,and the claim for compensation is more than the claim for damages.