Sudden claim for compensation after 15 years of no notice?... "violation of the rules of good faith"

The court ruled that suddenly requesting compensation 15 years after the incident without proper notice violated the principles of good faith and was unfair.

According to the legal community on the 28th, the 1st Civil Affairs Division of the Mokpo Branch of the Gwangju District Court ruled on the 22nd of last month that the government lost a lawsuit seeking compensation filed against five people, including Mr. A, a man in his 30s.

They were found guilty in 2009 for assaulting a junior soldier, Mr. B, while performing military service.

At that time, Mr. B could not overcome the bullying in the camp, so he attempted an extreme decision and eventually fell into a brain-dead state.

In 2017, Mr. B filed a lawsuit for damages for medical expenses, claiming that this incident occurred due to the government's negligence in management and supervision, and won.

Five years later, the government paid about 2.7 billion won in compensation.

Afterwards, the government requested approximately 500 million won in compensation from five people, including Mr. A, last year.

According to Article 2 of the National Compensation Act, the state must compensate for the damage when a public official or a person entrusted with public affairs causes damage to another person intentionally or through negligence, and may recover compensation if the public official or other person is grossly negligent.

Mr. A and others refuted that the government's claim for compensation was wrong.

They say that the government paid treatment expenses to Mr. B for a long time but did not inform them of this.

In addition, they requested dismissal of the claim, saying they were not notified of the progress of the civil suit in this regard.

The court ruled in favor of Mr. A and others.

The court ruled, "The plaintiff did not notify the defendant of the possibility of claiming compensation even after the civil judgment was issued, and did not notify the defendant of the possibility of claiming compensation for several years while paying hospitalization and treatment expenses," and "The time when compensation was notified to the defendants was about 15 years after the incident occurred."

He added, "The defendants may have believed that the plaintiff would not pursue separate responsibilities, including planning," and added, "It is against the principles of good faith to make plans related to the case at a time when so much time has passed."

Attorney Cho Seong-geun of Daeryun Law Firm, who represented Mr. A, explained, "It cannot be considered appropriate to shift the financial burden in the name of compensation without any notice when a considerable amount of time has passed since the date of the incident. In addition, at the time of the incident, Mr. A and others were ordinary soldiers, not professional soldiers, and therefore the government had a duty to create an environment to prevent harsh acts from occurring."
 

Jeong Eui-jin (jej88@ikbc.co.kr)

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Sudden claim for compensation after 15 years of notice?... "violation of the rule of good faith" (go)