On November 17, 2022, the Higher People's Court of Jiangsu Province (hereinafter referred to as "Hexia Chemical (Taicang) Co., LTD.") received the second instance judgment on the environmental pollution liability dispute (public interest litigation) between ACFU and Hexia Chemical (Taicang) Co., LTD. (hereinafter referred to as "Hexia") : The appeal of Xia Huaxue (Taicang) Co., Ltd. was rejected and the original judgment was upheld.

In May 2018, Lvse Jiangnan Public Environmental Concern Center (hereinafter referred to as "Lvse Jiangnan") found that the water in Suitang River and other river sections in Liujiagang, Taicang was brown red, and the sewage eventually flowed into the Yangtze River estuary. Lvse Jiangnan reported to Taicang Ecological Environment Bureau on the spot. After investigation by Taicang Ecological Environment Bureau and public security organs, it was found that Hexia Company had set up hidden pipes to secretly discharge waste water, and directly discharged the waste water containing formaldehyde, heavy metal manganese and other toxic substances produced by the company into the river near the company's factory, which was highly subjective and malignant. Subsequently, Lvse Jiangnan will be the case investigation data provided to the All-China Environmental Federation.

After researching, ACEF filed an environmental civil lawsuit with the Suzhou Intermediate People's Court in January 2019. Meanwhile, Lvse Jiangnan, China University of Political Science and Law Environmental and Resource Law Research and Service Center, Taicang People's Procuratorate and other organizations and units participated in the lawsuit as support units. The People's Procuratorate of Taicang City, as a supporting unit for prosecution, provided professional and comprehensive support to ACEF in its investigation and evidence collection.

On October 10, 2019, the first instance of the case was officially heard. On March 5, 2020, Suzhou Intermediate People's Court made a judgment of first instance, ordering the defendant and Xia Company to pay RMB 5,079,996 for ecological and environmental restoration, as well as lawyers' fees, experts' fees and travel expenses involved in the case. Meanwhile, the defendant was required to make a public apology for his environmental pollution behavior in the media at or above the provincial level within 10 days after the judgment took effect. Hou and Xia refused to accept the verdict of the first instance and appealed to the Jiangsu Higher People's Court.

After two sessions, the court made the above judgment of the second instance