Libel Suit By Ninety-Nines China Governor “Saki” Chen Jingxian Dismissed

A three-judge Beijing court rendered a unanimous verdict dismissing every one of the defamation claims made by Ninety-Nines China Governor “Saki” Chen Jingxian against global circumnavigation record-holder Wang Zheng. The three-judge panel refused to grant Chen the injunctive and compensatory relief requested by the complaint and refused to censure any of the statements that the Ninety Nines China Governor had challenged as infringing her reputation, including Wang’s statement that Chen’s 2016 flight around the world was a “fake flight.” The court also dismissed Chen’s claims against co-defendant social media giant Sina Weibo, finding that the social media platform's operator had done nothing wrong.

The central allegations of Chen’s complaint were that record-setting pilot Wang Zheng, by criticizing Chen’s 2016 around-the-world flight chaperoned by an American male flight instructor as a “fake” record flight on the China social media platform Sina Weibo, and by directing her attorney to send pre-litigation cease and desist letters to a handful of media outlets and sponsors, had defamed Chen and damaged her reputation. The complaint also contained a dozen or so lesser alleged transgressions against Chen’s reputation that were heard during the trial and rejected.

In a detailed 37-page opinion, the Beijing court rejected each of Chen’s claims as contrary to, or unsupported by, the evidence, and rendered a final judgment dismissing Chen’s complaint, ordering the Ninety Nines China Governor to pay the court costs.

Among the facts the court found supported by the evidence are that: the American male instructor that chaperoned Chen on the around-the-world flight did not accompany Chen as a friend on a casual outing but was a stranger Chen engaged specifically to help her fly around-the-world; Chen conceded that her flight in fact concluded on September 27, 2016, one week after Wang’s flight; that Chen had not completed her around-the-world flight herself (“Chen Wei, the flight event promoter, said the entire flight would have to be completed by Chen herself . . . Chen Jingxian not only did not fly alone during the flight, but also failed to complete the flight by herself”); Wang's criticism of Chen's flight as "fake" insofar as it was a bid for the title "First Chinese Woman to Fly Around the World," had a factual basis and was from Wang's professional perspective; there had been various violations of the Federal Aviation Regulations (the “FARs”) during Chen’s flight including those governing minimum fuel requirements under IFR conditions, the required use of oxygen at certain altitudes and the use of HF radio when flying across oceanic regions.

The judges specifically addressed the Ninety Nines China Governor’s repeated claim of “first,” finding not only that Chen started using expressions of "first" even before her flight had commenced but that Chen’s explanation for using the term “first to challenge,” i.e., that “first to challenge” to accomplish a flight around the world did not necessarily convey “first to accomplish” the flight around the world, was “highly misleading” to a general audience. According to the Court:

"This kind of round-the-world flight competition mainly tests the comprehensive quality of the pilot. By bringing a senior pilot to fly together with the contestant actually reduced the difficulty to the contestant herself, and from this we are able to understand Wang Zheng’s view. It must be pointed out that the evidence in this case can confirm that Chen Jingxian expressed herself as "the first" in various ways before and after the event. She also said she would change her behavior after netizens pointed out that it was improper (calling herself first before she even started flying), but Chen’s behavior has continued. Even if what she calls the "first to challenge" is interpreted as being the first to fly, this statement is problematic and highly misleading to those who do not understand the situation. The award for the challenge was based on completion at the earliest opportunity. If it is reasonable for Chen to say during the race that she was "the first to fly," but concedes that Wang Zheng finished the flight first, then Chen ignored the facts to use the phrase “first to fly” to promote herself, and the evidence confirms that her claims are not limited only to what she calls 'the first to fly'."

The judges similarly rejected Governor Chen’s blanket denial that she was unaware of how so many claims of “first” and of having flown “solo,” reached publication in interviews she gave:

"Chen denies the contents of her own interviews on the grounds of ignorance, but since the media is publishing these interviews mainly from Chen’s own statements, that the media itself is responsible for causing the repeated use of Chen’s self-appointed titles like “first to challenge” is unlikely."

The court found that a handful of pre-litigation cease and desist letters Wang had directed her attorney to send to several media channels and several automobile manufacturers – entities Chen had led to believe that she, and not Julie Wang was the first Chinese woman to fly around the world – were based in fact and non-actionable.

Finally, the court rejected Chen’s claim that Wang’s statements had caused Chen’s reputation any damage. The court found credible the substantial evidence of Chen’s already negative reputation generated by Chen herself on the popular Sina Weibo messaging platform -- precluded a finding that Wang’s statements had proximately caused Chen's reputational damage.

Wang Zheng, a regional airline captain who, in 2016, made international headlines with a solo global circumnavigation flight mostly over open ocean, is the first Asian woman to fly an airplane around the world, the first Chinese person to fly around the world solo and the first Chinese woman to fly around the world.

(Image provided with Beijing Weiheng Law Firm news release)

FMI: www.flywithjulie.org/beta