Supreme Court: Police Who Did Not Receive Complaint or Civil Petition Documents Must Pay Damages

Supreme Court in Seocho-dong, Seoul. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] The Supreme Court has ruled that police officers who delayed handling complaints without accepting the complaint report must compensate the complainants for damages.

On the 20th, the Supreme Court Division 1 (Presiding Justice Park Jeonghwa) announced that it upheld the appellate court's partial ruling in favor of the plaintiff in the damages claim lawsuit filed by complainant A against police officers B and C belonging to the state and Gyeonggi Police Agency.

In 2015, A visited the police station to file a complaint against D for not receiving the agreed transportation fee of 400,000 won. However, police officer B rejected it, stating that "the content of the complaint is not a criminal case but a civil debt default case." On the other hand, the prosecution later accepted the complaint report submitted by A with the same content, and D received a summary order confirming a fine of 300,000 won.

A filed a complaint alleging that B's refusal to accept the complaint report was misconduct. While trying to submit the complaint documents, A attempted to meet another police officer, C, but C refused to meet, saying he was busy. Consequently, A filed complaints against both officers, and B received a warning for 'procedural violation,' while C was warned for 'delayed handling of complaint cases.'

A then sued both officers, claiming 1 million won each for mental damages caused by the wrongful execution of duties by the police officers, and requested that the state jointly pay 50,000 won of the amount.

The first trial dismissed A's claim. The court at that time stated, "Although B and C did not comply with the demands in a somewhat high-handed manner, it is difficult to see that there was illegal execution of duties due to intentional or gross negligence," and "it is also difficult to recognize a causal relationship with mental damages."

On the other hand, the second trial ruled in favor of A. The appellate court ordered B to pay 500,000 won, stating that "B violated his official duties as a police officer by refusing to follow the basic complaint acceptance procedures." Regarding C, the court ordered 300,000 won in damages, stating that "C had the duty to accept, review, and process the complaint documents but intentionally or through gross negligence delayed or refused to handle them." The court also ordered the state to jointly pay a total of 100,000 won with them.

The Supreme Court also agreed with this ruling and dismissed all appeals by the defendants.

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