Case Analysis / Legal Updates

The bereaved family of a worker who died while dispatched overseas filed a lawsuit against the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service, seeking payment of survivors' benefits and funeral expenses, but the court did not accept the claim. The reason was that the worker could not be regarded as a subject of the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act. We will analyze the judgment in detail to explain how this came about.

The Supreme Court recently issued a significant decision reversing and remanding the lower judgment in a case whose central issue was whether, in an adjudication on the division of inherited property, the death insurance proceeds received by an heir by representation constitute a special benefit under Article 1008 of the Civil Act. We would like to analyze this decision together.(Supreme Court, Decision of June 13, 2024, 2024 Seu 525 (principal adjudication), 2024 Seu 526 (counter-adjudication), Determination of Contributory Portion and Division of Inherited Property)

Three defendants engaged in telemarketing and related work purchased a large volume of personal information for value from a personal information seller and were indicted for violating the Personal Information Protection Act and the Information and Communications Network Act. The case, which had been contested up through the third instance, concluded with the dismissal of the prosecutor's final appeal and a partial acquittal of the defendants. We have reviewed this significant judgment.(Supreme Court, Decision of June 17, 2024, 2019 Do 3402)

We will analyze a Supreme Court decision holding that, even if a contract concluded with an unregistered investment advisory firm violates the applicable law, the validity of the contract itself remains intact.

We analyzed a key judgment in a dispute between a large retail store (the defendant) and an employee (the plaintiff), both a current and a former employee of that store, contesting alleged violations of the Distribution Industry Development Act and the Labor Standards Act.(Seoul High Court, Decision of February 2, 2024, 2023 Na 2035761)

This is a Supreme Court judgment holding that, when a daily wage worker suffers an occupational accident and proceeds with the related damages procedure, the lost earnings should be calculated by reducing the monthly number of working days from the previous 22 days to 20 days.

Regarding the punishment of embezzlement, this is a case in which an order for the collection of equivalent value, which had been imposed on a businessman indicted on charges of embezzling company funds, was reversed by the Supreme Court. (Supreme Court, Decision of June 13, 2024, 2023 Do 17596)

The acquittal entered by the appellate court for three defendants and the defendant company, who violated the Unfair Competition Prevention and Trade Secret Protection Act by disclosing trade secrets and providing the relevant manufacturing method to another company to help it produce the product, was reversed.The Supreme Court reversed and remanded that judgment on the prosecutor's final appeal.(Supreme Court, Decision of May 30, 2024, 2022 Do 14320)

A significant Supreme Court judgment was recently rendered in a case that examined whether a worker dispatch relationship was established in connection with the confirmation of employee status.The Supreme Court reversed and remanded the lower judgment of the Seoul High Court, which had held that "no worker dispatch relationship was established" in an illegal dispatch lawsuit brought by the plaintiffs, who had performed preventive maintenance and servicing of test equipment within an automobile company's research institute.(Seoul High Court, Decision of September 27, 2019, Seoul High Court 2018 Na 2062639)

It has been two years since the Serious Accident Punishment Act was implemented, and the heaviest ruling has been handed down in the 15th ruling. The CEO of the company, who violated the Serious Accident Punishment Act, was sentenced to two years in prison.(Ulsan District Court 2024.4.4. Sentence 2022 Godan 4497) Let's look at the gist and implications of each sentence that resulted in a prison sentence, as well as considerations when determining sentencing.