I am curious about civil trial procedures.

Hello, here is the answer to your question about civil trial procedures.

A civil trial generally begins with the submission of a complaint.

Once the complaint is filed, the court serves it to the defendant, who must submit an answer within approximately 30 days.

Subsequently, to organize both parties' arguments, a preparatory hearing or mediation procedure may be conducted, and the court will hold formal hearing dates after necessary evidence examination.

At the hearing dates, the parties and their representatives appear to present arguments and evidence, and the court considers these to render a judgment.

The duration of the lawsuit varies depending on the complexity of the case, amount of evidence, and party attitudes, but typically takes 6 months to over 1 year for the first instance.

If it goes to the appellate and Supreme Court, the entire procedure can extend over several years.

To prepare for trial, first, it is most important to systematically organize the facts and evidence. Objective materials such as contracts, receipts, text messages, and emails serve as powerful evidence.

Second, maintaining consistency in arguments is necessary. If statements are reversed, credibility may be weakened.

Third, when professional issues are involved, it is desirable to receive an attorney's assistance to strengthen legal logic.

Also, in principle, if you lose a civil trial, you must bear the opposing party's litigation costs.

Litigation costs include not only stamp fees and service fees that we commonly think of, but also various items such as appraisal costs, witness costs, and attorney fees.

Specifically, this includes stamp fees paid when submitting a complaint, service fees for delivering litigation documents at court, costs for posting in official gazettes/newspapers for case announcements, appraisal fees for experts, travel expenses or daily allowances paid to witnesses/appraisers/interpreters, and travel expenses for judges and court clerks.

Attorney fees are also included in litigation costs.

However, the losing party does not bear all the fees actually paid to the opposing party's attorney.

According to the "Rules on Inclusion of Attorney Fees in Litigation Costs," only certain standard amounts are calculated based on the litigation amount.

For example, if the litigation amount is 20 million won, 10% or 2 million won is calculated, and amounts exceeding 500 million won are calculated at only a certain ratio (0.5%).

Therefore, even if you lose, you do not bear the entire opposing party's attorney fees, but only within the upper limit set by law.

If the judgment only determines the bearer of litigation costs without specifying the specific amount, the parties must apply for the determination of litigation costs to the court for the actual amount to be determined.

Since civil trial procedures are complex and response strategies may vary depending on the opposing party's arguments, it is advantageous in the long run to set the lawsuit direction by consulting an attorney from the beginning.

Daeryun Law Firm provides case-specific response strategies after analyzing the latest laws and precedents through civil attorneys registered with the Korean Bar Association.

In addition, we collaborate with specialists in special fields such as accountants, tax accountants, patent attorneys, and labor attorneys within the law firm to provide one-stop case responses.