[Call for Cases] Seeking Information on Unfit Judge Chen Chiu-yueh

Since September 2015, Judge Chen Chiu-yueh of the Taichung District Court began handling civil consumer debt clearance cases. She has handled cases through methods such as (1) coercing debtors into withdrawing their cases, (2) unlawfully dismissing applications for debt rehabilitation, and (3) abusing discretionary power in rulings on debt liquidation exemptions. These actions deterred debtors in the Taichung area from daring to petition the court for rehabilitation or liquidation, leaving vulnerable debtors facing bank debt collection and worsening economic conditions without being able to resolve their issues through the Consumer Debt Clearance Statute. After petitions by the Self-Help Association of Debtors Victimized by Credit Card Debt to the Judicial Yuan failed to yield improvements, a complaint was filed with our Foundation.

Since the new implementation of the Consumer Debt Clearance Statute in 2012, the proportion of rehabilitation procedures initiated by district courts nationwide has consistently exceeded 70%. However, during the period from September 2015 to February 2017 when Judge Chen Chiu-yueh handled civil consumer debt clearance cases, she never ruled to initiate a rehabilitation procedure in a single case, resulting in a 0% approval rate, and unlawfully dismissed rehabilitation applications under severe circumstances. Furthermore, she only issued 11 rulings on rehabilitation applications. Compared to other judges at the Taichung District Court—taking Judge Lin Shih-min as an example—Judge Lin issued a total of 35 rehabilitation application rulings during the same period, of which 28 rulings initiated rehabilitation procedures, achieving an 80% approval rate. Given that judges in the same court handling the same types of cases are assigned roughly the same number of cases, the extremely low number of rulings made by the evaluated judge suggests that a large number of debtors withdrew their cases, which is a serious matter. In addition, between September 2015 and February 2017, Judge Chen handled a total of 9 cases involving applications for exemption from liquidation liabilities. Shockingly, in 5 of these cases, she imposed restrictions not provided for by law, requiring debtors to repay an additional 30,000 to 1,000,000 NTD before granting exemptions, thereby abusing her discretionary power in liquidation exemption rulings under severe circumstances.

Our Foundation has submitted a request for individual judicial evaluation regarding Judge Chen Chiu-yueh's improper handling of consumer debt clearance cases, which is currently under review by the Judges Evaluation Committee. As Judge Chen's aforementioned unfitness has harmed numerous victims, such accounts frequently circulate locally. To this end, our Foundation has established a special project to gather facts, evidence, and related information concerning Judge Chen's unfitness. We cordially invite all sectors of society to assist in providing such information for our Foundation to compile and submit to the Judges Evaluation Committee for investigation.

※ Please provide case numbers, case details, or case files via phone call, postal mail, or e-mail. Providing supporting evidence is especially encouraged. If the evidence is sufficient, our Foundation will initiate legal procedures to request an individual judicial evaluation.

※ Our Foundation strictly adheres to the obligation of confidentiality regarding the provision of the aforementioned information, and will never disclose or allow others to know the source of the information in any way without consent.