Chapter 54.2 That’s what I like.

Because of Ji Lin’s approval, Bai Duanduan joined Xie Miao and Ji Lin’s meeting the next day.

Ji Lin expressed his tacit approval of her presence in the conference room, but it was Xie Miao who had a surprised look on his face as he glanced at Bai Duanduan and almost subconsciously said, “You’re really going to bring someone along to meet with me? I thought you were joking when you called me last night to say you were bringing someone else along.”

Ji Lin pursed his lips and said succinctly, “I’m not joking. This is Bai Duanduan, my colleague.”

Xie Miao probably realised that he had slightly lost his temper just now, so he restrained his expression and introduced himself while exchanging business cards with Bai Duanduan.

Time was precious, and each of the three people was very professional. Once seated, they didn’t waste a minute, and Ji Lin made a brief opening statement before starting to sort out the current situation.

Xie Miao roughly explained the causes and consequences of the incident, he sighed, “I know that Tian Mu is a cheap person and sometimes not very clean, but because he is a core employee of the game development team, he is really creative and understands technology, he is also a veteran gamer and understands what the users want, such talents are very rare, so I have been turning a blind eye to it. But I didn’t expect his appetite to get bigger and bigger, skimming more than just the meal reimbursement.”

Xie Miao’s voice carried a bit of hidden anger, “He even had a tendency to start non-compliance in the cooperation with Party B. He started hinting at the other party to give him rebates and kickbacks, and in order to get the money, he even tried to contract out some cooperation to Party B which was not qualified at all. This matter was something I could not tolerate, and it was just before the expiry of his employment contract, so before he infringed on the company’s vital interests, I did not renew his contract and gave him the exit.”

Bai Duanduan pursed his lips, “Did you go through the non-renewal process legally? Are there any flaws?”

Ji Lin glanced at Bai Duanduan, his voice faint, “I handled it.”

That means there is absolutely no flaw.

Xie Miao looked at Ji Lin, “Yes, Ji Lin helped me deal with it. There was no problem, the money that should be given was also given. In fact, he knew in his heart that, according to the evidence in my hands, he could have been fired directly for serious disciplinary offences, without even having to pay financial compensation, which would have affected his reputation in the industry. But in the end I thought that he was the one who held the key technology and the company’s trade secrets, and I still wanted to get along well and coax him with good words, so in the end it was considered that the money was also given enough and face was also given.”

“Did he react violently to the non-renewal at that time?”

“No, Tian Mu is very calm, and the non-compete agreement has been confirmed with him again and again. He also expressed it at the beginning that’s just right and he was happy to be free, so he can go home to recuperate and spend time with his wife.”

Bai Duanduan nodded, she had also dealt with the issue of evidence collection in non-competition disputes before, and she had a few ideas, “What we need to do now is very clear. First, we need to prove that Mercury Network and and YuWen Games have a business competition relationship; second, prove that Tian Mu joined Mercury Network.”

Ji Lin nodded, “The first point is very good proof. First of all, in the non-compete agreement signed by Tian Mu, I listed in the annex which companies belonged to and have competitive relationships with YuWen Games. Mercury Network was among them, in black and white, clearly.”

Bai Duanduan frowned, “Will he infringe on his right to free choice of employment as a worker by claiming that the scope of the non-compete agreement is too wide? Did you agree on more competing companies in this annexed list in the first place?  Because it is now a matter of the judge’s discretion as to whether the scope of the non-compete agreement is too wide, there may not necessarily be no risk of proof on this first point either.”

Although Bai Duanduan’s initial intention to get involved in the case was somewhat selfish, once she really got into the discussion of the case, she was very calm and was able to bury herself into the case for consideration.

Ji Lin usually does not like to work with other lawyers on cases. At most he can teach a few newcomers and assistant lawyers, because he can tolerate mistakes or slowness of newcomers or assistant lawyers.  But he absolutely cannot tolerate lawyers with a certain level of experience working with him to be out of depth of the matter  or cannot follow his thoughts. He does not have a lot of patience.

He was surprised by how well she thought, how quick she was and how clear her thinking was. And because she had previously represented mostly employees, she was now able to explore the issue from the perspective of the employees’ defence and identify the weaknesses in the corporate side’s litigation strategy, which was surprisingly complementary to her own.

The issues she raises do exist, but fortunately they don’t cause problems.

“It does depend a lot on the discretion of the judge on this point, but it is also true that there is previous jurisprudence that says that even if the scope of the prescribed non-compete is too broad, it does not rightly affect the performance of the non-compete obligation. The most important thing is that it must be proven that Mercury Networks and YuWen Games do compete.”

Ji Lin paused, “As for this point, there is a way, check the scope of business on Mercury Network’s business license, plus go to Mercury Network’s official website to read their business description, as well as the similar games they are currently competing with on the shelves, these are enough to form a complete chain of evidence.”

Bai Duanduan nodded, “So now the question is how to prove the second point.”

Xie Miao mentioned this and a difficult look appeared on his face, “That’s where the problem lies. Ji Lin also said to me, to prove this, there are only a few ways. If Tian Mu is really employed by Mercury Network, then we can start with the five insurance, one housing fund and personal income tax payment vouchers that Mercury Network has given him. Once there is a record of payment, then it is a sure bet that he is working for Mercury Network.”

Bai Duanduan smiled, “Yes, this point, we lawyers can not directly forensically obtain the other company’s payment information, but we can apply to the arbitration committee or the court to investigate and obtain evidence. The process is more troublesome, but it can achieve results.”

“But that’s the problem.” Xie Miao sighed, “This is not something that I have not hinted at with Tian Mu. If he is dead set against admitting it, then in the end, after spending a lot of energy on forensics, he still cannot escape the end of returning the non-compete compensation and making compensation. But Tian Mu seemed very calm throughout the communication process. His attitude was very certain, telling me that he definitely did not join Mercury Network, and therefore there was never any record of these payments. It seemed that he was really not afraid of me checking.”

“What about phone recordings? Have you tried this?”

Ji Lin pursed his lips, “Of course I did. I called Mercury Network’s office number at separate intervals, disguised as a courier, a partner, and other reasonable identities, saying that I wanted to find Tian Mu, and that I was going to use the recording to notarize the call when they were unprepared to say that they would help transfer the call, so as to prove that Tian Mu had indeed joined Mercury Network. But it turned out that the employees who answered the phone were straightforwardly saying that I had called the wrong number, and there was no Tian Mu as a colleague at all, saying that there must have been a mistake.”