A Statement of Facts Written at a Friend’s Request: Is It Okay to Sign Without Giving It Much Thought? [Everyday Life That Became a Case, by Attorney Won Hee-young]

[Financial News]“I only signed what my friend had written. Do I have to go to court too?”A friend holds out a written statement confirming facts, saying it is needed for a lawsuit. “You only have to write your name. You won’t have to go to court.” The person asked to sign has heard many times about the injustice their friend has suffered. The document also recounts a familiar story. Some sentences seem a little too definitive, but the person assumes that is how documents submitted to court are usually written and signs it.
Some time later, the friend asks the person to come to court as a witness. Only then, upon rereading the statement, does the person see that it describes even scenes they did not witness as though they had personally verified them. A little later, a notice ordering them to appear as a witness arrives from the court.■ What you heard from a friend must not become your own eyewitness accountSuppose a friend who was with you at a drinking gathering gets caught up in an assault case. Someone who briefly stepped outside and then returned would not know how the argument began. Even if the friend says, “The other person hit me first,” all you have is what you heard from them. But if you write in a statement, “I saw the other person hit my friend first,” what you heard secondhand becomes your own eyewitness account.
What you can write about in this situation is when you were away and what you saw after you returned. You can also include what your friend told you, as long as you identify the source. Write, “My friend told me that the other person hit them first.” Even if your friend says that is not helpful enough, you cannot claim to have seen a scene you did not witness.
The person signing must read and correct even a draft written by a friend or representative. An explanation such as “I heard them arguing, but couldn’t make out what they were saying” may have been changed to “The other person verbally abused my friend.” There is no reason to fill in a date or number of times you cannot remember just to make the account fit the context. If you learned something from messages or photographs, you can say that you learned it from those materials.■ The person who signed must answer questions in courtIf the contents of a written statement confirming facts are disputed, the court may call the person who signed it as a witness to verify them.Even if a friend assures you that you will not have to go to court, you must comply if you receive a court summons to appear. In a civil trial, the opposing party may also apply to have you called as a witness.In a civil trial, if you receive a court summons and fail to appear without a valid reason, you may face a fine of up to 5 million won and be required to pay litigation costs resulting from your failure to appear.Even after being fined, if you again fail to appear without a valid reason, you may be ordered to be detained in a police lockup or detention center for up to seven days. The same sanctions may apply in a criminal trial if you fail to comply with a witness summons.
In both types of trial, a witness who fails to appear without a valid reason may also be brought in by force. If it is difficult to appear because of hospitalization or another reason, you should submit supporting documents in advance and check the court’s instructions. Filing an explanation does not automatically remove your obligation to appear.
“Where were you at the time?” “If you were away, how did you see the assault take place?” In court, you will be asked whether what is written in the document matches what you actually experienced. Answering, “I don’t know much about it because my friend wrote the document,” will not bolster your friend’s claim; it will undermine the credibility of the statement.
Simply writing false information in a written statement confirming facts does not, by itself, constitute perjury. The problem arises if you continue lying in court because you are afraid your testimony will differ from what you signed. A witness who has been sworn in as required by law may be punished for perjury if they testify contrary to their own memory. The same applies to witnesses in civil trials.■ Helping with a false criminal complaint could get me punished tooCriminal liability can arise even before you take the stand. Suppose your friend plans to file a complaint by inventing an incident that never happened in order to get the other person punished, and you know this but write a statement saying, “I saw it at the scene.” If your friend attaches the statement and files a false complaint, you too may be punished as an accomplice to the crime of false accusation. The fact that your name is not on the complaint does not mean you can avoid responsibility.
A request like this is also dangerous in a lawsuit to recover money. If you know your friend is claiming money they never lent, but write, “I saw my friend lend the money,” thereby helping deceive the court, you could become an accomplice to litigation fraud. The court could rely on that document to order the other party to repay the money.
A friend might also say they need a statement in someone else’s name and ask, “That person will agree, so please sign for them.” If you create a statement in that person’s name without their permission, you may be guilty of forging a private document; if you submit it as though it were genuine, you may be guilty of using a forged private document. If you use someone else’s name in this way to create a statement for submission in another person’s criminal case, you may also face a charge of evidence fabrication.
If you have already handed over a statement that contains false information, you should first correct the inaccurate sentences and explain why they are wrong. Before it is submitted, replace it with a corrected version. If it has already been submitted, provide the investigative agency or court with the inaccurate information and the reasons for correcting it. If you leave it as it is because you are worried your friend will get into trouble, you will be left with a lie to explain in court.
Before signing, imagine a judge asking, “How do you know that?” If your answer would be, “My friend told me,” write that in the statement too.
[About the Author]Attorney Won Hee-young is a former reporter for Financial News and currently handles criminal cases at YK Law Firm. The attorney graduated from Ewha Womans University, earned a master’s degree in media and communications from the graduate school of Seoul National University (SNU), and graduated from Ewha Womans University School of Law. She examines the moments when ordinary life turns into a legal dispute and explains the key issues that determine the outcome of a case, along with practical ways to respond.
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