Government Loses Lawsuit Against Yoo Byung-eun Affiliates Over Sewol Ferry Recovery Cost Burden

The day before the detention hearing of Jung Kyung-shim, wife of former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk and professor at Dongyang University, on the 22nd, the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-yoon] The government has effectively lost a lawsuit filed against the late Yoo Byung-eon’s family-related companies, demanding they bear the costs of managing the Sewol ferry disaster.

The Seoul Central District Court Civil Division 22 (Presiding Judge Lee Dong-yeon) dismissed most of the plaintiff’s claims on the 7th in two unjust enrichment refund lawsuits filed by the state against Yoo’s former chauffeur and family-related companies.

Previously, the state filed a subrogation lawsuit demanding 421.3 billion KRW from Yoo’s children, who were responsible for the accident, and shareholders of Cheonghaejin Marine Company. The state incurred compensation payments under the Sewol Special Act during the disaster management process. Last month on the 17th, the court ruled that Yoo’s children must bear approximately 170 billion KRW, which is 70% of the costs paid by the state.

This trial concerns a lawsuit filed by the state to claim assets that Yoo had nominally entrusted to his close associates. The state seeks to recover these assets as subrogation funds, arguing that the nominally entrusted assets should have effectively gone to Yoo’s heirs. Nominal trust refers to registering assets under a third party’s name instead of the actual owner.

The court stated, “The key issue in this lawsuit is whether Yoo personally nominally entrusted assets to the defendants,” adding, “It was necessary to examine the purchase funds, sources, and loan holders for each defendant and property, but the evidence was insufficient.”

It continued, “When purchasing real estate, there were likely multiple sources such as Geumsuwon funds, Christian Gospel Baptist Church funds, believers’ funds, and loans, but these were not distinguished, and the financial transaction relationships were not identified,” explaining, “It is difficult to conclude that Yoo’s personal funds were used to purchase the real estate, so nominal trust is not recognized.”

However, the court ruled that one of Yoo’s aides was recognized to have received 250 million KRW from Yoo for land purchase payments and ordered this amount to be paid to the state.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.