Man surnamed Ling illegally sold pigs from a joint pig farm and was found not guilty in the second trial

A man surnamed Ling ran a pig farm in partnership with Zheng Nan and Li Nv. However, Ling Nan sold 75 pigs in the pig farm to a business owner named Huang without the consent of the two partners, Zheng and Li. People were angry and filed a lawsuit. The Pingtung District Court sentenced Ling Nan to 10 months in prison for business embezzlement and confiscated 150,000 yuan in criminal proceeds. After Ling Nan appealed, the second-instance Kaohsiung High Court held that the case should be a civil dispute and that Ling Nan's illegal intent was difficult to identify, and Ling Nan was found not guilty.

Ling Nan, Zheng Nan, and Li invested 400,000 yuan, 800,000 yuan, and 800,000 yuan respectively to run a pig farm, and agreed that Ling Nan would be responsible for raising pigs on site. However, Ling Nan unauthorizedly sold 75 pigs in the pig farm for 353,460 yuan. The pigs were sold to an unsuspecting business owner named Huang. Huang Nan paid 150,000 yuan to Ling Nan in advance. The other two partners, Zheng Nan and Li, had no knowledge of Ling Nan's sale of pigs. Ling Nan also did not distribute 150,000 yuan to Zheng and Li. As a result, the two parties fell out in court.

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Ling Nan argued that he was raising the pigs in the pig farm, and he did not sell more than what he invested, and he had no intention of encroachment. He had repeatedly requested to withdraw from the business, but the other party did not agree, so he would sell the pigs and get back the principal.

The Pingtung District Court reviewed the conversation records between Ling Nan and Zheng Nan and believed that the three of them had agreed that all three of them must agree to sell pigs. The partnership still existed. Ling Nan sold the pigs without the consent of the other two partners and should be punished with the crime of business misappropriation.

The Kaohsiung Higher Education Branch believes that Ling Nan expressed his intention to withdraw from the partnership and get back the investment amount of 400,000 yuan to his partners, but was rejected. In order to achieve the purpose of withdrawing from the partnership, Ling Nan sold some pigs at a price of 353,460 yuan within the scope of his investment amount, and collected the remaining amount. Winning 150,000 yuan did not infringe on the shares of other partners, and the partnership contract in this case did not specifically stipulate the method of withdrawal from the partnership. There was no other evidence to confirm that Ling Nan had indeed committed a business misappropriation offense under the criminal law. This case is a civil partnership dispute and should be resolved through civil litigation procedures.