China News Service, May 25, According to Taiwan's "Central News Agency", the Shilin District Court of Taiwan held a trial yesterday (24th) of the civil group lawsuit against the Eight Immortals Dust Explosion incident. Because there are many right holders and many documents, the lawyer requested the court to suspend the trial and give 4 months of exchange of documents. The court ruling was approved.
The picture shows the scene after the explosion of the Eight Immortals Paradise. Image source: Taiwan's "Central News Agency".
Lawyer Wu Rongda pointed out in an interview that the last Singaporean victim in the legal aid has submitted a consent form and requested the court to suspend the trial yesterday.
Wu Rongda explained that this is not a suspension of the lawsuit, but a request for the court not to hold a trial for the time being, because the relevant departments must handle more than 300 claimants cases before the statute of limitations of the Eight Immortals Dust Explosion in June this year, and hope that the court will give them more time and make good exchanges of documents before holding the trial, so that the efficiency will be better.
Regarding the cost of victim identification, Wu Rongda estimated that if the current 98 victims are calculated, the cost of the appraisal will reach NT$3 million. If more than 300 victims transferred from the Legal Support Foundation are added, the cost of the appraisal will be NT$10 million, and the fee will be applied for fee support from the relevant departments.
