Rainstorm widow sues over car plate

A 44-year-old widow has sued her mother-in-law over possession of a car number plate left by her husband who died in the July 21 rainstorm last year.

A judge from Fangshan district court told the Global Times Wednesday the court heard the case Tuesday morning.

"This is the first case I've heard about the right to inherit a car plate," said Lü Shaohan, one of the judges involved in the case.

"Although the car itself, as the subject of this lawsuit is worth little, the car plate is the key thing they are fighting for, as it is of value due to the restrictive car purchase policy in Beijing," he said.

The couple, a man surnamed Li from Fangshan, and his widow, surnamed Ren, married in 2010. They were both employed by Li's younger brother at a billiard hall in Fangshan.

Li died during the catastrophic rainstorm which hit Beijing on July 21, 2012. He was driving his car, a Xiali bought in 2006, along a road near Shuangmazhuang village in Fangshan during the storm when the road collapsed and his car was swept into the nearby river. His body was recovered on July 23, 2012.

"This case is unique, we need to check a lot of facts before we can come to a verdict. The next step is to find out whether the value of the plate can be assessed, and whether ownership can be transferred. The widow doesn't have a Beijing hukou (household registration) or driving license, and the man's mother has no license. But there are some special policies on inheritance cases and people involved in the July 21 rainstorm," said Lü.

"One possible solution is that one gets the plate and the other gets half the value, if it can be properly assessed," he said.

Ren said that her relationship with Li's family had always been strained.

"I'm still taking driving lessons. But I don't mind what I can get through this lawsuit. I just want to fight back. His family are such bullies. They drove me out of my apartment. Now I could only stay at my friend's home," she said.

"I don't have a Beijing hukou. I'm from Sichuan Province, and I've never bought social insurance in Beijing," she said.

According to Beijing's current car registration policy, people without a Beijing hukou, or who have not paid social insurance in the city for five straight years, cannot apply for a car registration plate in the monthly lottery.

But Li's younger brother, who is acting on behalf of his mother in the case, accused Ren of being too greedy, and said that repeated negotiations with her over the plate had failed.

"She didn't want the plate at first, but then asked for 10,000 yuan ($1,609)," he said, adding she changed her mind about the figure several times.

"My brother was in jail periodically from 1996 to 2008 for taking drugs and robbery, so he didn't have a job. I paid the down payment on an apartment for him and bought a billiard hall so they could work there and pay for the mortgage," he said.

He said his family only met Ren a year after the couple married, and she did not give them a good impression.

"We asked her to move out but she lingered, and then started selling the air conditioner and other furniture in the apartment… so we changed the locks," he said.

Lawyer Qi Lianfeng, from Yinke Law Firm, said car plates do have value now, although the law in this area is lacking as there have been few cases.

"Because of the city's restrictive policy, a secondhand car can be sold at a price higher than its value because it has a number plate," he said.

Beijing government said that secondhand cars bought before December 24, 2010, when the car plate lottery began, can be sold along with the car plates to anyone. These cars often sell for 30,000 to 50,000 yuan higher than the market price, said the China National Radio website.

Some car plates dating before 2010 were priced at 650,000 yuan in the black market in car service and parts stores, according to chinacars.com in February 2012.