Recently, a man's 12 pet cats were put up for auction on a judicial auction platform to help him pay off his debts, which has attracted widespread attention and discussion online.
The world is truly full of wonders. I've heard of foreclosed furniture, houses, and cars, but this is the first time I've heard of foreclosed pets. Perhaps this is another form of children paying for their parents' debts; after all, a cat is still a child.
Let's take a look at what exactly happened:
The incident stemmed from a Jiangsu man, Huang, owing Ji 80,000 yuan in goods payments but refusing to repay. The Zhangjiagang City People's Court in Jiangsu Province ordered the auction of Huang's pet cats. The starting prices for these cats ranged from 500 to 2,000 yuan, and the first judicial auction took place on August 26th. Previously, staff from the online auction platform stated that this was the first time the platform had conducted a judicial auction of pets.
The civil judgment No. (2022) Su0582 Minchu 65, which served as the basis for enforcement, shows that Ji's son initially paid Huang 81,250 yuan to purchase a breeding cat, but Huang did not purchase the cat. Therefore, on June 23, 2021, Huang returned 1,250 yuan to Ji's son and issued an IOU on the same day, promising to repay the full 80,000 yuan by February 1, 2022. Afterwards, Huang did not repay any amount to Ji's son. Ji's son transferred the aforementioned debt owed by Huang to Ji, and Ji subsequently sued Huang. However, Ji won the case but did not receive the outstanding payment.
Ultimately, the court ordered Huang to repay Ji the 80,000 yuan payment for goods and bear the interest loss for overdue payments. An enforcement ruling issued by the Zhangjiagang City People's Court of Jiangsu Province on June 9th shows that in the case of a sales contract dispute between the applicant Ji and the respondent Huang, the respondent was ordered to fulfill the obligations determined by the court's Civil Judgment No. (2022) Su0582 Minchu 65, but failed to do so. However, because Huang failed to fulfill the obligations determined by the effective legal document, upon Ji's application, the court seized 13 of Huang's pet cats on June 8th, 2022. In accordance with regulations, the court ruled to auction these 13 pet cats.
The auction announcement indicates that, based on court inquiries, the reference prices (reserve prices for the first auction) for each pet cat are as follows: Tabby cat 500 yuan/each, Ragdoll cat 500 yuan/each, Chinchilla cat 500 yuan/each, Golden Shaded cat 2000 yuan/each, Large Blue-Golden 2000 yuan/each, Small Blue-Golden 1000 yuan/each, Small Golden Point 2000 yuan/each, Small Golden Tabby 600 yuan/each. The deposit ranges from 100 to 400 yuan, with bid increments of 10 to 40 yuan. The auction will run from 10:00 AM on August 26, 2022 to 10:00 AM on August 27, 2022.
The auction officially began at 10:00 AM on August 26th. It was noticed that 11 cats had registered bidders. The blue and golden male kitten, with a starting price of 1000 yuan, attracted the most bidders with 56. Within 5 minutes of the auction starting, the price had reached 2000 yuan. By 1:00 PM, eight cats had recorded bids, ranging from 1 to 39. The number of viewers ranged from 7000 to 22000. At 11:12 AM on August 27th, the first round of bidding for the "12 cats auctioned to settle debts" ended with the last cat, a Chinchilla, being sold for 1500 yuan. One cat failed to sell. The total proceeds from the auction of the 11 cats amounted to 18384 yuan, insufficient to repay the 80,000 yuan debt owed by Mr. Huang.
An employee of JD.com's online auction platform stated that if a bid is placed at the last minute, the auction will be extended by 5 minutes until no further bids are received. "After the auction is completed, the successful bidder must pay the remaining balance of the auction price, which is the balance after deducting the deposit, within fifteen days." Although the auction attracted considerable attention, the employee noted that one golden shaded cat failed to sell; its starting price was 2,000 yuan, and no one registered or bid. Previously, a staff member from the online auction's coordinating party told reporters that the cats were currently at the home of the plaintiff, Mr. Ji, who has experience raising cats and is caring for and feeding them.
The auction notice indicates that if the item fails to sell at auction and is subsequently auctioned or sold again, the reserve price will be set at 80% of the initial reserve price. The Zhangjiagang Municipal People's Court has not yet announced the specific date for the second auction.
