A blind woman is suing the owner of a massage club in Xuhui District for breach of contract claiming she and her husband tried to buy half of the club, but their money was stolen.
Her husband died soon after the theft from high blood pressure.
Yue Hong filed a lawsuit with the Xuhui District People's Court against Gao Weimin, the club owner, accusing him of breach of contract. The case is expected to be heard later this month.
Yue said in the lawsuit that her husband's 27-year-old brother was diagnosed with leukemia early last year and the family was heavily in debt.
To earn more money to help pay for his expensive medical treatment, the couple sold an apartment they owned for 250,000 yuan (US$30,120) last October to buy a 50 percent stake of the massage club on Xietu Road, where they both worked.
They gave the money to Gao, who promised to finish the paperwork for the deal within three months.
But the deal didn't go as smoothly as the couple expected.
"Gao always delayed performing the procedures. Later he went back on his words and said he couldn't deal with the procedures unless we bought the other half of the club," Yue said. "He even requested we shoulder all the club rent and workers' salaries."
When the two sides both refused to give in, Huang Meiying, the landlord of the club, grabbed the 200,000 yuan in cash that was locked in a desk in the club and disappeared on April 15.
Three months later, Fu Jiahua, Yue's husband who had suffered from high blood pressure, died.
"He had been lamenting the great loss and worked overtime during that period of time, trying to cover the loss," Yue grieved.
Shanghai Daily couldn't contact Gao yesterday.