Former National Athlete Chen Ching-Kai Wins Another Civil Retrial, While His Wrongful Criminal Conviction Remains Unresolved

Former national handball player Chen Ching-Kai suffered severe visual impairment after a traffic accident. Although he worked hard to adapt his behavior to resemble that of a sighted person, those adaptations were treated as evidence that he had faked blindness to obtain insurance benefits. On February 14, 2018, his criminal conviction became final: he was sentenced to one year and two months in prison, and more than NT$5.22 million in insurance benefits paid by Nan Shan Life, Mingtai Fire & Marine Insurance, and Cathay Life Insurance was ordered confiscated. All three insurers also brought civil actions seeking repayment. Chen has maintained his innocence from the outset, and his legal team has pursued relief in both the criminal and civil proceedings (see Appendix).

Today, December 30, the Taiwan High Court Kaohsiung Branch Court again ruled in Chen Ching-Kai's favor in Civil Retrial Case 107-Tsai-I-63, concerning Cathay Life Insurance's claim for repayment of benefits. The court set aside the prior final judgment, the first-instance judgment in the earlier proceedings, and the declaration of provisional execution. Chen therefore prevailed again in the civil litigation and is not required to return the insurance benefits. The pro bono legal team is deeply relieved by this rare piece of good news, but Chen's wrongful criminal conviction has still not been overturned and continues to require public attention and support.

2020: Back-to-Back Victories in the Civil Cases

After the criminal conviction became final, the legal team filed a first retrial petition identifying important evidence in the record that had not been considered; the petition was denied in June 2018. The Control Yuan's Investigation Report 107-Ssu-Tiao-0048 later commissioned a professional team led by Professor Hung Lan of National Central University's Graduate Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience together with physicians from Taipei Veterans General Hospital. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the team again confirmed severe impairment in Chen Ching-Kai's visual-processing system: even under strong external visual stimulation, activity in the relevant visual system remained extremely low. Relying on this evidence, the legal team filed a second retrial petition, but the Taiwan High Court Kaohsiung Branch Court denied it in April 2019. The reasons given reflected substantial misunderstandings of vision science and dealt another serious blow to Chen and his lawyers.

Fortunately, on August 27, 2020, the Taiwan High Court Kaohsiung Branch Court held in the Mingtai case that Chen's visual acuity met the insurance-payment threshold of below 0.01 because the traffic accident had caused reduced blood perfusion in both occipital lobes and cortical injury. While the legal team's relief at that decision was still fresh, today's judgment brought another important victory.

The Criminal Wrongful-Conviction Case Remains Unresolved

Since taking up Chen Ching-Kai's case, supporters have continued searching for additional scientific evidence demonstrating his innocence. They also organized the 2019 International Symposium on the Diagnosis, Education, and Rehabilitation of Cerebral Visual Impairment, using Chen's case to help academic and professional communities in both disability rights and the justice system better understand the experiences and adaptive strategies of people with cerebral visual impairment.

Today's civil victory is not the end of the effort to clear Chen's name. The pro bono legal team will continue pursuing relief in the criminal case and hopes the day of his exoneration will come soon. We also ask the public to continue following and supporting the case.

Appendix

Overview of the Chen Ching-Kai Cases

Criminal Proceedings	Outcome	Document
Final Fact-Finding Judgment	Fraud One year and two months' imprisonment	Taiwan High Court Kaohsiung Branch Court Criminal Judgment 103-Shang-I-574
First Retrial Petition	Denied	Taiwan High Court Kaohsiung Branch Court Criminal Ruling 107-Sheng-Tsai-44
Second Retrial Petition	Denied	Taiwan High Court Kaohsiung Branch Court Criminal Ruling 107-Sheng-Tsai-187

Civil Proceedings	Amount and Insurance Coverage	Document
Mingtai Fire & Marine Insurance	NT$1.05 million; Compulsory automobile liability insurance covering the at-fault driver	Final Judgment Taiwan High Court Kaohsiung Branch Court Civil Judgment 105-Shang-I-127
		Retrial Taiwan High Court Kaohsiung Branch Court Civil Judgment 107-Tsai-I-46
Nan Shan Life Insurance	NT$3.17 million; Policy Chen had maintained since high school	Supreme Court Civil Judgment 107-Tai-Shang-1143 (Settled after remand to the High Court)
Cathay Life Insurance	NT$1 million; Student insurance through National Changhua University of Education	Final Judgment Taiwan High Court Kaohsiung Branch Court Civil Judgment 105-Shang-I-241
		Retrial Taiwan High Court Kaohsiung Branch Court Civil Judgment 107-Tsai-I-20 (Denied) Taiwan High Court Kaohsiung Branch Court Civil Judgment 107-Tsai-I-63 (Today's Judgment)

Attending Representatives

Chen Ching-Kai / Person Wrongfully Convicted
Yang Cheng-Hua / Pro Bono Attorney for Chen Ching-Kai
Chien Kai-Lun / Legal Aid Attorney for Chen Ching-Kai

Press Contact

Lee Ming-Ju / Staff Attorney, Judicial Reform Foundation