萬國法律事務所

The Taiwan Taoyuan District Court issued a judgment against Novotel Taipei Taoyuan International Airport (“Novotel”) on April 27, 2016, granting plaintiffs’ claims for damages.

Plaintiffs were members of the Democratic Front Against the Cross-Strait Trade in Services Agreement (“Democratic Front”). They knew that an official of the Taiwan Affairs Office of China’s State Council, Chih-Chun Chang, was going to hold a meeting with an official of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, Yu-Chih Wang, and that Chang was going to stay at Novotel.

In an attempt to protest the meeting, plaintiffs stayed at Novotel with their friends entering their rooms as visitors. However, Novotel staff required plaintiffs and the visitors to leave the hotel because the visitors did not show their ID and register. After plaintiffs refused to leave, the staff rammed the room door with force and finally broke in the room. Novotel staff then restricted plaintiffs and the visitors to a specific space and precluded them from using the elevators.

The court found that Novotel should compensate plaintiffs for their loss arising from the violation of their freedom of residence and privacy.

The Democratic Front held a press conference agreeing to and acknowledging the importance of the judgment and plaintiffs indicated that they will not appeal the judgment to the High Court.