Court: "One Halloween Costume Customer is a Minor... Restaurant Business Suspension Unjust"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] A restaurant owner who was ordered to suspend business for having underage customers among guests dressed in school uniforms for a Halloween event won an appeal lawsuit.

According to the legal community on the 22nd, the Administrative Division 4-2 of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judges Lee Beom-gyun, Lee Dong-geun, Kim Jae-ho) ruled in favor of Mr. A in the appeal trial of the lawsuit filed against Songpa District Office in Seoul, requesting the cancellation of the business suspension order, upholding the original ruling.

The court maintained that the first trial's judgment was correct.

Mr. A, who operates a general restaurant in Songpa-gu, accepted four guests dressed in school uniforms on the night of October 30, 2018.

Among them, three were university students, but one was 18 years old, classified as a minor under the Youth Protection Act.

The employee requested identification from all four, but when only the underage guest presented a university student ID, the employee was not convinced that the guest was an adult and refused to serve alcohol.

About 40 minutes later, the mother of one of the group members came to the restaurant and said, "They are all adults, so you can serve alcohol," and placed an order herself. Trusting this, the employee then served soju.

However, the Songpa District Office in Seoul imposed a one-month business suspension on Mr. A for selling alcohol to a minor. In response, Mr. A filed an appeal lawsuit.

The first trial court ruled in favor of Mr. A, stating, "Considering these circumstances comprehensively, there is a justifiable reason that the employee cannot be blamed for not fulfilling their duty," and "Considering that the underage guest was also close to the restricted age of 19, there was reason for the employee to believe that the person was not a minor."

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