International Law

No Comment, Really

By Stan

Big story today is the CCTV hotel building fire. Internets are full of chatter, Twitter is humming, and the entire staff of DLA Piper Beijing congregated in four offices this morning (across from my office) to take in the view. (We are at the Kerry Centre, just across the street from the CCTV complex. The four offices in question look out directly on the burned hulk that was the hotel building.)

On the subject at hand, I got nothing. It was a fire, not a lawsuit (yet), not a new government policy, not a new think tank report or column by a misguided visiting journalist.

What the heck do I know about a fire? As a lawyer, on the other hand, I have lots of questions about liability, insurance, the agreement between CCTV and Mandarin Oriental, etc.

As we are still in the early stages of all this, I will put those questions aside until we know more facts. The initial reports say that a local fireworks company hired by CCTV was the culprit. Not a deep pocket, unfortunately.

Full post as published by China Hearsay on February 10, 2009 (boomark / email).