CONTINGENCIES AND LITIGATIONS

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2015

CONTINGENCIES AND LITIGATIONS [Text Block]

23. CONTINGENCIES AND LITIGATIONS

There is a lawsuit currently pending in the Supreme Court of Shandong Province, which was initially filed by Shandong Lorain, a subsidiary of the Company, against Junan Hengji Real Estate Development Co., Ltd. ("Junan Hengji") in November 2013 at Linyi City Intermediate People's Court of Shandong Province (the "Linyi Court"). Shandong Lorain added Jiangsu Hengan Industrial Investment Group Co., Ltd. ("Heng An Investment") as a co-defendant after the case was first filed at Linyi Court.

In September 2010, Shandong Lorain and Junan Hengji entered into a cooperative development agreement (the "Agreement") and in March 2011, Heng An Investment, an affiliated company of Junan Hengji also entered into the Agreement with Shandong Lorain to jointly develop the project with Junan Hengji.

Pursuant to the Agreement, Junan Henji and Heng An Investment are required to pay Shandong Lorain a total RMB20 million (approximately $3,225,806) fixed return according to the development status of the project developed by Junan Hengji and Heng An Investment. The payment was due and unpaid to Shandong Lorain. Shandong Lorain and the Company evaluated the potential claims against Junan Hengji and Heng An Investment, disputes between the parties with respect to out of pocket expenses paid by Junan Hengji, as well as the litigation fee that is required to be paid to the court based upon the amount claimed. Ultimately, Shandong Lorain decided to file the lawsuit with Linyi Court to claim a fixed return of RMB10 million (approximately $1,636,902) first.

In January 2014, the Linyi Court had its first trial session. During the trial, Heng An Investment filed a counterclaim against Shandong Lorain for repayment of out of pocket expenses which would off-set the entire fixed return plus additional unpaid expenses of RMB4,746,927 (approximately $765,633). Shandong Lorain responded that Heng An Investment does not have standing to file the counter-claim because the out of pocket payments were made by Junan Hengji. In November 2014, the court had a second trial session and completed its discovery process. On March 21, 2015, Shandong Lorain received Linyi Court's decision that rejected Shandong Lorain's claim for RMB10,000,000 against Junan Hengji and Heng An Investment. On April 3, 2015, Shandong Lorain appealed the decision to the Supreme Court of Shandong Province and the case is still in the appeal process. The Company is confident that Shandong Lorain will prevail during the appeal process.