After the individual industrial and commercial household is deregistered, the individual industrial and commercial household will no longer exist. If there are infringements during the existence period, or money is still owed, what should be done after cancellation? Everyone must have this doubt: Will these responsibilities and debts be eliminated with the cancellation of the self-employed business? Or do they need to continue to bear the next responsibility? Let us take a look at the case below
Case Introduction Leizi Department Store is an individual industrial and commercial household run by Boss Liu. Because Leizi Department Store infringed its utility model patent rights, Huahua filed a lawsuit with the Wuhan Intermediate Court, requesting an order to order Leizi Department Store to stop selling products that infringed its patent rights and compensate it for its economic losses. After review, the Wuhan Intermediate Court found that Leizi Department Store had been canceled before the case was filed, that is, on September 29, 2020. The Wuhan Intermediate Court informed Huahua and asked it to verify the operating status of Leizi Department Store. After Huahua verified and found that it had been cancelled, it applied to the Wuhan Intermediate Court on April 2, 2021 to add the operator, Boss Liu, as a co-defendant.
The Wuhan Intermediate People’s Court ruled that Huahua’s lawsuit was rejected. Leizi Department Store had been canceled before the lawsuit was filed, not during the litigation process. It was not qualified as a litigation subject and was not a qualified defendant in this case. Huahua will Leizi Department Store was listed as the defendant in the lawsuit and did not meet the statutory prosecution conditions. Huahua can sue the registered operator or actual operator of Leizi Department Store as the defendant in another case.
Huahua was dissatisfied and appealed to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled:
Revoked the above ruling of the Wuhan Intermediate Court and ordered the Wuhan Intermediate Court to hear the case.
Legal analysis 1. After the individual industrial and commercial household is deregistered, it is still the subject of liability. According to Article 54 of the Civil Code, if a natural person engages in industrial and commercial operations and is registered as an individual industrial and commercial household in accordance with the law, the individual industrial and commercial household can start a business name. At the same time, in accordance with Article 56 of the Civil Code, the debts of individual industrial and commercial households shall be borne by personal property if they are run by individuals; if they are run by a family, they shall be borne by family property; if they are indistinguishable, they shall be borne by family property. It can be seen that an individual industrial and commercial household is essentially the legalization of a natural person's qualifications to engage in industrial and commercial operations and commercial activities. It is a confirmation of the natural person's commercial qualifications. The debts of an individual industrial and commercial household are borne by personal or family property, and whether the individual industrial and commercial household is canceled or not. It does not affect the determination of the responsible party.
2. The font size does not affect the confirmation of the responsible party. Paragraph 1 of Article 59 of the "Judicial Interpretation of the Civil Procedure Law" stipulates that in a lawsuit, an individual industrial and commercial household shall be the party operator registered on the business license, and if there is a trade name, the trade name registered on the business license shall be the party, but at the same time it shall be noted that Provide basic information about the trade name operator. It can be seen that the trade name is an expression of the name of the party involved, and whether there is a trade name does not affect the determination of the responsible party. 3. Does Huahua’s lawsuit meet the statutory prosecution conditions? In this case, when Huahua filed the lawsuit, the industrial and commercial registration materials of Leizi Department Store that it submitted contained specific and clear operator information, and should be deemed to have a clear defendant. Huahua’s lawsuit complies with the conditions stipulated in the Civil Procedure Law. 4. Who is the defendant in this case? After the Wuhan Intermediate People’s Court found out that the individual industrial and commercial owner of Leizi Department Store had been canceled and the trade name no longer existed, and the information about the operator could be clarified, the Wuhan Intermediate People’s Court still listed the registered trade name as a party, which was a misclassification. Subject of litigation. After mislisting the subject of the lawsuit, the Wuhan Intermediate People's Court dismissed Huahua's lawsuit on the grounds that the subject was not qualified to litigate, which was an error in application of law. According to the evidence in the case, the defendant in this case should be Boss Liu, the operator of Leizi Department Store.
Warm reminder: The debts borne by self-employed households during the existence period will not be eliminated with the cancellation, but will depend on who is the operator at that time. If it is an individual business, the operator's personal property will be borne; if it is a family business or the personal property is difficult to distinguish from the family property, the family property will be borne. Case source: (2021) Supreme People’s Court Zhimin Final No. 1468 -END-