'School Bullying Lawsuit No-Show' Kwon Kyung-ae Loses Appeal... Ordered to Pay 65 Million Won in Damages

[Financial News] The appeals court has ruled that attorney Kwon Kyung-ae, who lost a lawsuit after failing to appear in court despite representing the family of a school bullying victim, is liable to compensate the victim's family.
On the 23rd, the Civil Division 6-3 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judges Park Pyung-gyun, Ko Chung-jung, and Ji Sang-mok) ordered Kwon Kyung-ae and Haemir Law Firm to jointly pay 65 million won in damages in the appeal filed by Lee Kichul, the mother of the late Park Juwon, against Kwon and Haemir Law Firm. The court also ordered Haemir Law Firm to pay an additional 2.2 million won. Claims against two other attorneys at the law firm were dismissed.
Attorney Kwon Kyung-ae represented Lee Kichul, the mother of Park Juwon, who died by suicide after suffering from school bullying, in a damages lawsuit filed in 2016 against the Superintendent of Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education and the perpetrators. Although the family partially won in the first trial, they lost in the appeal because Kwon failed to attend the hearing. Kwon also did not inform the family of the result for five months.
According to Article 268 of the Civil Procedure Act, the court may schedule a hearing even if neither party appears. However, if a party fails to attend the scheduled hearing and does not request a new date within one month, the appeal is considered withdrawn.
The victim's family emphasized the joint liability of Kwon and the law firm and sought damages of around 200 million won. In June last year, the first trial court ordered Kwon and the law firm to pay 50 million won in damages.
After the verdict, Lee Kichul told reporters, "There is no real difference between the court that dealt with this case and the system that disregarded me before. This verdict does not hold the attorney accountable for her wrongdoing but rather increases my burden. I will appeal to the Supreme Court of Korea for a legal review."

theknight@fnnews.com Jung Kyung-soo, Choi Eun-sol Reporter