How should I respond to a civil damages claim..?

Hello. This is a civil specialist attorney at Daeryun Law Firm.

Apart from being subject to a civil damages claim, the fact that the past criminal proceedings ended with a non-prosecution agreement (i.e., an agreement not to seek punishment based on the settlement) is very important.

However, the conclusion of the settlement in the criminal case does not immediately mean exemption from civil damages liability.

That is, if the victim (plaintiff) did not make an explicit agreement at the time of the criminal settlement that "they would also waive their civil damages claim," they can file a civil lawsuit within a certain scope.

Civil damages claims are based on tort liability under the Civil Act. If a person causes harm to another person through intent or negligence, the perpetrator must compensate for that harm.

However, if the victim has already received certain compensation through monetary damages or settlement, the court may consider this and reduce or partially dismiss the damages amount.

If there was a non-prosecution agreement in the criminal case, it usually only constitutes an expression of intent not to seek criminal punishment, and the civil claim continues to exist separately.

However, if the agreement process explicitly stated that "no damages claim will be made due to this case," the plaintiff's civil claim may be evaluated as an act contrary to the principle of good faith and may be dismissed as inappropriate as a litigation requirement.

Therefore, you must first verify the specific contents of the agreement through the agreement letter, text messages, KakaoTalk conversations, and recordings at the time.

(1) Dispute over occurrence of damages and causation
You need to dispute whether the injury and damages claimed by the plaintiff are actually directly causally related to the act of assault and whether such damages continue to this day.

Even if there was a 3-week medical certificate, if there are no special after-effects after treatment is completed, additional damages are unlikely to be recognized.

(2) Argument for deduction of previously paid damages
If there was a settlement amount paid at the time of the criminal case, this should be deducted when calculating the damages amount.

Since the settlement amount usually includes the nature of consolation money, the plaintiff's claim for consolation money again can be considered double claim.

(3) Argument that the civil lawsuit is inappropriate as it falls within the scope of damages foreseeable at the time of the non-prosecution agreement
You can argue that the consolation money should be reduced or replaced by the already paid settlement amount, comprehensively considering the degree of injury caused by the assault, the victim's treatment period, and the circumstances of the agreement.

Since this case had a settlement in the criminal proceedings, the legal effect of that agreement and the scope of the damages claim become issues, so the agreement letter wording, evidentiary relationship, and substantiality of damages must be precisely analyzed.

I recommend that you establish a systematic response strategy with a civil specialist attorney based on evidence and legal principles.