The Litigation Status Of A Company In The Shareholder Representative Action

In 2005,the system of shareholder representative action has been established for the first time in China.However,there has been no specified stipulations provided in PRC laws and regulations on the litigation status of the company in the shareholder representative lawsuit so far.Hence,the relevant judicial guidance for shareholder representative action cases lacks,and in practice,whether the company shall be forced to participate in the shareholder representative action is unclear and the litigation status of the company in the action is different case by case.In order to study the litigation status of the company in the shareholder representative action,this paper is divided into five chapters.In the first chapter,I mainly study the existing PRC laws and regulations and domestic judicial practice,and summarize the features of legislation and jurisdiction on company's litigation status in the shareholder representative action.In the second chapter,I have done comprehensive research on the extraterritorial systems(English law,American law and Japanese law)and relevant theories in China,and make a preliminary and critical choice of them.In Chapter 3,I discuss the model of company's participation in shareholder representative action and company's litigation status in such action.The fourth chapter represents how to ensure the participation of the company and provides applicable relieves when the company does not participate in the litigation.The Chapter 5 summarizes the main arguments described in the first four chapters.In this paper,I will combine PRC legislation status,domestic and foreign practice and related theories,and use normative research method,comparative research method and empirical research method to study the litigation status of the company in the shareholder representation action.I argue that the court shall allow the company to dispose of its right to participate in the shareholder representative action.The company's litigation status in the shareholder representative action shall be the third party without independent claim,which is consistent with the existing civil procedure law and domestic judicial practice.In order to ensure the participation of the company in the litigation,the shareholder as the plaintiff is obliged to inform the company involved in the action and other shareholders of the progress of such action.In addition,even if the company has not participated in the action,the court shall endow the company the right to participate in the litigation reconciliation.If the interests of the company are damaged by the adverse judgment made by the court under the circumstance that the company does not participate in the proceedings,the system of "the third party's applying for retrial" can also protect the interests of the company.