China Hit with Multi-Billion Dollar Judgment After Skipping COVID Lawsuit

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Missouri sued China for unleashing COVID-19 and hoarding PPE.

China’s response?

Complete radio silence. A no show in court.

Not a good look for China.

The judge sided with Missouri, slapping China with a multi-billion dollar judgment.

It’s like winning a game by default because your opponent didn’t bother to play. 

So, China forfeited this legal game.

And they keep ignoring it, hoping it will all go away.

Daily Caller reports:

The state of Missouri won a multi-billion dollar lawsuit against China for its role in the COVID-19 pandemic after none of the defendants showed up to court.

A Missouri federal judge ordered China and the other defendants on Friday to pay the state “an amount of $24,488,825,457.00,” with post-judgment interest “at a rate of 3.91 percent, compounded annually.” The People’s Republic of China and co-defendants, including the Wuhan Institute of Virology, “failed to appear or otherwise answer after being properly served, and [are] therefore in default,” Senior U.S. District Judge Stephen Limbaugh wrote in his order.

In 2020, Missouri sued the Chinese government for $25 billion “for causing and exacerbating the COVID-19 pandemic” and for hoarding medical equipment during the pandemic, but China refused to appear in court, according to Bailey’s office. Instead, Beijing dispatched a Chinese government surrogate to litigate its lawsuit on its behalf to shield itself from legal repercussions, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s office asserted in a legal filing on Friday. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Owner Of US Defense Contractor Making Fighter Jet, Missile Parts Listed As Chinese Intel Agency Official)

Bailey told the DCNF it was “no surprise” the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) opted to hide behind “proxy organizations like the Chinese Society of Private International Law rather than appearing in court to answer for their actions.”

“We will not allow the CCP to manipulate the legal process to evade justice — our mission is to fight for the truth and recover damages for the people of Missouri,” Bailey said.

Bailey’s motion earlier on Friday argued that an amicus brief filed on Feb. 27 by The China Society of Private International Law (China Society) in defense of the Chinese government in the case of Missouri v. China should be struck from the record because the organization is allegedly a proxy for a Ministry of Foreign Affairs-run organization called the Chinese Society of International Law (CSIL).

The filing alleged that the China Society, which presents itself as an academic organization, “is actually controlled by Defendants,” i.e., the Chinese government, because China Society is led by many of the same individuals as CSIL, which was “founded by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”

 

Grok’s take on it:

Missouri sued China in 2020, alleging the country exacerbated the COVID-19 pandemic by obstructing medical equipment access. Attorney General Andrew Bailey secured a default judgment after China didn’t appear in court, demanding $24 billion for damages. The case is unprecedented, as Missouri is the only state to take legal action against China over the pandemic.


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