Supreme Court remands contract payment case, confirms 65 million won in damages

The Supreme Court has ordered a retrial on the contract payment aspect of a lawsuit involving a lawyer who caused her clients to lose their case by failing to attend court, while confirming the 65 million won in damages awarded for mental distress.

The family of the late Park Ju-won, who died after suffering from school violence, has filed a constitutional complaint with the Constitutional Court, seeking the cancellation of the Supreme Court's decision to dismiss their appeal.

On April 29, the Supreme Court overturned the lower court's ruling on the contract payment portion of the lawsuit filed by Lee Gi-cheol, the mother of Park Ju-won, against lawyer Kwon Kyung-ae and her former law firm. The court ordered the contract payment part to be re-evaluated, while upholding the lower court's decision that confirmed Kwon's joint liability for 65 million won in damages.

Lee's side argued that the Supreme Court's dismissal of the remaining six grounds for appeal in a single sentence, excluding the contract payment issue, clearly violated their right to receive a reasoned judgment and their right to a trial.

Kwon Kyung-ae, a lawyer, represented Lee, the mother of Park Ju-won, who died in 2015 after suffering from school violence. In 2016, Lee filed a civil lawsuit against the perpetrators, the school foundation, and the Seoul Metropolitan Government.

The first trial accepted the claims only against one parent who failed to attend court, while dismissing the rest.

Despite Lee's side appealing the decision, Kwon Kyung-ae failed to appear for the appellate trial three consecutive times between September and November 2022, resulting in a complete loss.

Kwon Kyung-ae did not inform the family of the loss for five months. As Lee was unaware of the ruling, she could not file an appeal, and the judgment became final in 2022.

Consequently, Lee filed a lawsuit seeking 200 million won in damages, alleging that her right to a trial and the right to appeal were violated due to Kwon's negligent representation.

The first and second trials found it difficult to assume that there was a high probability of winning the school violence lawsuit. Therefore, they did not recognize the property damage liability of Kwon Kyung-ae and her law firm, but only acknowledged their liability for damages due to mental distress.

The amount of damages for mental distress increased from 50 million won in the first trial to 65 million won in the second trial. Additionally, the law firm was ordered to pay an separate 2.2 million won.

However, the second trial did not accept the claim for contract payment related to the 'performance bond' drafted by Kwon Kyung-ae. The court ruled that the condition of the contract, which stipulated a payment of 90 million won, was that 'the lawyer's wrongdoing would not be publicized by media,' and this condition was broken due to media coverage.

The Supreme Court, however, ruled that the 'prohibition of media coverage' was not a condition for the payment of the contract amount. It sent the case back to the Seoul Central District Court for a retrial on the contract payment issue.