Courts at all four levels across the country have set up litigation service hotlines, resolving an average of 5,9 appeals per day

Courts at all four levels across the country have set up litigation service hotlines, resolving an average of 5,9 appeals per day.

The 12368 hotline transmits the judicial temperature

Core reading

Respond to the demands of the masses and convey judicial temperature. The people's court has established a 12368 litigation service hotline to listen to the voices of the people and relieve their worries through innovative service mechanisms and unblocked channels of public opinion communication.

By the end of 2022, all four levels of courts across the country had opened the 12368 hotline, building a "warm bridge" for convenient services, effectively playing the role of "people's heartline" in serving the masses.

"Hello, this is the Beijing Court 12368 hotline, how can I help you?"

"I am a staff member of the judicial institute, and there are a number of inheritance cases involving the division of inheritance in my jurisdiction that need to be mediated, and I would like to ask the court to provide legal support."

Such calls ring daily in court systems across the country. The 12368 litigation service hotline effectively plays the role of "people's heart" and "total customer service".

"In order to meet the multi-level and diversified judicial needs of the people, the people's courts have built a 12368 litigation service hotline and vigorously promoted the work of 'No. 2022 universal office'." Liu Xuemei, vice president of the Supreme People's Court's case registration division, said that by the end of 12368, all four levels of courts across the country had opened the 5 litigation service hotline, helping to resolve an average of 9,<> appeals per day.

Respond to appeals and open two-way communication channels

"There are only two days left to appeal, I want to appeal and hope that the judge will contact me as soon as possible." Not long ago, the 12368 hotline of the Shanxi Court received a call from Li, a client of the Xinghualing District People's Court in Taiyuan City.

Under the guidance of the court's hotline staff, Li expressed his demands by leaving a message to the judge through the hotline's self-service message platform.

At the other end, the judge's mobile phone received an SMS push from the 12368 hotline platform, and after learning the parties' demands, he called and contacted as soon as possible to prompt the precautions.

"I received a reply from the judge soon after leaving the message, and the appeal has been processed." The parties said.

"The 12368 hotline has opened up two-way communication channels between parties, agents and other litigation participants and more than 3000,24 judges in the province." The head of the relevant department of the Shanxi Provincial Higher People's Court said that through manual or self-service voice services, litigation services have been realized <> hours a day.

During the litigation, many parties had such doubts: "Why didn't anyone answer the judge's phone call", "I went to the court to see the judge, but the judge was not there"... In fact, most of this situation occurs because the judge is on the way to the trial, receiving other parties, or rushing to investigate and collect evidence, so that the situation in which the parties successfully contact the judge by phone is different from the expectations of the parties.

The reporter learned that in order to better solve the problem of "difficulty in finding judges" and effectively build a bridge of communication between litigants and judges, the 12368 hotline adds the function of "contacting judges" - if the parties need to contact the judge, they can leave a message by calling the 12368 hotline to facilitate the judge's handling, which not only solves the problem of "difficulty in contacting judges", but also further standardizes the communication methods between judges and parties.

"As a unified foreign litigation service hotline of the national courts, after several years of construction, the 12368 hotline has developed from the original working mode of 'one desk + one telephone + one watchman' to a comprehensive service platform integrating online network, voice self-service, SMS and artificial agent services." Liu Xuemei introduced.

The service functions of the hotline have also been continuously expanded, from the original single service such as litigation consultation and case inquiry to the "one-number-one" litigation service including consultation, inquiry, appointment, transfer, complaint suggestions, contact with judges, etc., covering more than 20 contents such as case filing, file reading, preservation, appraisal, service, execution, petition, lawyer services, and satisfaction evaluation.

By the end of 2022, courts across the country had received 3250.2022 million calls from the masses, effectively responding to the urgent and difficult problems reported by the masses. In 12368, the 1465 hotline of courts across the country handled 3.5 million appeals from the masses, with an average of 9,2021 per day, 2.8 times that of <>.

Litigation source governance, timely resolution of social conflicts

Not long ago, the staff of the Beijing Municipal Provident Fund Center called the 12368 hotline, "dozens of employees concentrated on the problem of a company arrears in the provident fund, although the center organized multiple rounds of consultation, but the progress was slow, the employees were emotional, and hoped that the court would provide help and guidance on the coordination and mediation work of the center." ”

After receiving the call, the Dongcheng District People's Court of Beijing appointed a judge to rush to the scene. After understanding, it was learned that the reasons behind the case were complex - involving many issues such as the split and restructuring of listed companies, the temporary control of branch funds, and the liquidation of creditors and debts. The CPF arrears involved 121 employees, ranging from five or six years to nearly 20 years.

Once the judge is aware of the situation, he immediately begins his work. An hour later, a mediation coordination meeting was held under the guidance of the judge, organized by the CPF Center and attended by the heads of the two enterprises. There is no dispute between the parties to the fact that the enterprise owes CPF, but there are different opinions on who pays the money. The listed company proposed that the branch was transferred with assets and should be paid back from the assets of the branch; The receiving enterprise believes that this is the historical arrears of the original company and should be paid by the original company.

Mediation and coordination have reached an impasse, and judges have taken into account legal reason, combined with legal provisions and judicial practice, analyzed legal relationships, and defined legal responsibilities. After two hours of consultation, the solution gradually took shape: pay in advance from the special fund for withdrawal, and pay back the funds before 12 noon the next day.

"In less than 36 hours, all the outstanding CPF payments have been made up to the employees' accounts!" Two days later, the Beijing Municipal Provident Fund Center called thanks, and the problem was successfully resolved.

"In our investigation, we found that the appeal organizers at all levels in the city urgently need legal guidance and assistance in the process of handling complaints immediately and managing the source of litigation, especially in the mediation of contradictions and disputes." Cui Xiuchun, director of the Litigation Service Office of the Beijing Higher People's Court, introduced that since 2020, Beijing courts have added the "litigation source governance" acceptance service function to the 12368 hotline, responding "No. <>" to the judicial needs of the city's party committees and governments at all levels, government departments at all levels, public enterprises and institutions and other citizens' appeal undertaking entities, and promoting the timely resolution of conflicts and disputes.

"In recent years, the 12368 hotline has played an irreplaceable role in unblocking public opinion communication channels." Liu Xuemei said that for example, Beijing courts have built a working mechanism for the governance of the source of litigation in 12368 "No. <> Response", using "hotlines" to respond to the demands of the masses and transmit judicial temperatures.

Follow up supervision and promote the resolution of cases at the source

"For some time, the 12368 hotline has received many calls to reflect the issue of refund of legal fees." The telephone staff of the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court noticed this situation and reported it.

The Mass Appeal Service Office immediately sorted out and judged the mass appeals, and found that the callers concentrated on "too many materials to be submitted for the refund application, complicated procedures", "long cycle from application submission to receipt of refund, and unscientific refund process and requirements".

"Judging from the situation of the call, the issue of refund has become a hot issue with a relatively concentrated response from the parties, and it should be paid attention to and resolved." This matter was included in the current Dean's Steering Meeting for notification.

After the meeting, the leaders of the court convened the case registration court, office and other departments to study the problem, comprehensively sorted out the litigation fee refund process, the materials required for handling and the refund time node from the perspective of convenience and benefit, intensive and efficient, and issued relevant regulations, which completely solved the problem that the masses strongly responded to by establishing rules and regulations.

In order to make the external evaluation and internal supervision and assessment really land, the Shenzhen Intermediate Court held a "Dean's Supervision Meeting" every week. Reading typical cases of mass appeal is a fixed link of the President's Supervision Committee. Court leaders listen to case analysis one by one, conduct research and judgment and feedback, deploy key work tasks, issue reminders and suggestions on key issues, promote the resolution of the source of the case and the system, and ensure that everything is implemented and each case is responded.

"Courts in 29 provinces have implemented the 12368 hotline without area code transfer, which is convenient for parties to directly dial 12368 in any region, and more smoothly the channels for expressing people's appeals." Liu Xuemei said.

In the next step, the Supreme People's Court will adhere to the purpose of justice for the people, promote the development of the 12368 hotline in a more standardized, professional and intelligent direction, deepen the construction of the 12368 hotline "No. 12368 universal office", and better play the function of the <> hotline to smooth the communication channels of public opinion, listen to the voices of the people, and relieve the people's worries, so that the people can feel that fairness and justice are around.

Reporter Wei Zhezhe