40s Blocked Wedding Hall Entrance with Vehicles and Machinery...

[Financial News] A man in his 40s was sentenced to a fine for blocking an entrance with vehicles and machinery during a dispute over building usage rights.
According to the legal community on the 17th, the Seoul Southern District Court Criminal Division 13 (Judge Kim Seong-eun) sentenced a man in his 40s, Mr. A, to a fine of 700,000 won for charges of obstructing business. If the fine is not paid, he was ordered to be detained in a labor house for a period equivalent to 100,000 won per day.
Mr. A was brought to trial on charges of obstructing business by blocking an entrance with vehicles and machinery during a dispute with a wedding hall operating company over building usage rights.
In 2017, Mr. A signed an exclusive operation contract with a corporation owning a building in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, and rented a floor of the building from Corporation B to operate an ice rink. The victim, Mr. C, who operated a wedding hall in the same building, rented some floors from the building-owning corporation and exercised a lien based on a claim transferred from a construction company that had not received construction costs.
In 2021, the victim's side filed a lawsuit against Corporation B and Mr. A to "terminate the contract that was lent for free" and to sequentially deliver the building, winning in court. The court also issued an injunction preventing the transfer of possession to others. Mr. A's side argued that "our company inherited the possession rights" but this was not accepted.
However, despite knowing that the judgment to transfer possession was finalized and that the objection case was dismissed, Mr. A was found to have parked a van at the building's entrance in March 2023, blocking the entry of other vehicles and people. He also placed an ice resurfacer used at the ice rink on the stairs used as the building's entrance, obstructing the entry of employees hired by the victim.
The court noted, "It can be recognized that the defendant obstructed the operation of the victim corporation by exerting influence by parking a van at the building's entrance and placing an ice resurfacer on the stairs used as a passage," and "The defendant could have sufficiently foreseen the possibility or risk of obstructing the victim company's business with his actions, thus intent to obstruct business is recognized."
However, "Considering that the defendant has no prior record of being punished for similar offenses, the state of business obstruction appears to have been resolved, and comprehensively considering the defendant's age, character, family relationships, home environment, motives and means of the crime, the sentence was determined," the court ruled.

welcome@fnnews.com Jang Yuha Reporter