5G First Class Action Plaintiff Trust 'On the Table'... Trial Resumes Late August

The Court Requests the Plaintiff to Submit Additional Evidence

The Seoul Central District Court Civil Division 104 (Judge Lee Hoe-gi) held the first hearing on the 8th regarding the lawsuit for the return of unjust enrichment filed by 237 consumers of 5G services against SK Telecom. Photo by the plaintiff's side's attorney

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] As 5G service marked its second anniversary of commercialization amid controversy last April, the first class-action lawsuit trial related to 5G service was held. However, due to issues regarding the plaintiff's credibility, the court requested the submission of supplementary materials within a month and decided to hold the trial again on the morning of August 26.

According to the related industry on the 8th, the Seoul Central District Court Civil Division 104 (Judge Lee Hoe-gi) held the first hearing on the lawsuit filed by 237 5G service consumers against SK Telecom, claiming the return of unjust profits. The plaintiff's legal representative was appointed from law firm Serim, and the defendant's legal representative was appointed from law firm Class.

Attorney Lee Hana of law firm Serim, representing the plaintiffs, explained the purpose of the lawsuit, stating, "The telecom company failed to provide fast 5G service due to inability to build infrastructure," and added, "As the defendant was aware that performance was impossible, they violated their duty to explain." Accordingly, they claimed compensation of 500,000 KRW per person for responsibility due to incomplete performance.

The defendant's attorney rebutted, saying, "The 5G available areas claimed by the plaintiff are not included in the terms of use," and added, "In the written preparation, we legally requested the plaintiff to verify the issue of trustworthiness, but it is presumed that some of the 226 plaintiffs have no usage experience, raising doubts about whether the application was made in good faith."

On the 8th, before the trial began, Attorney Lee Hana of Law Firm Serim, the legal representative of the plaintiff, spoke during a briefing.

The plaintiffs requested the defendant SK Telecom to actively fulfill the obligation to verify, as the defendant holds a large amount of personal customer information, but the defendant countered by citing concerns about personal information infringement and asked the plaintiffs to fulfill at least the minimum verification obligation.

The court told the plaintiffs, "It is necessary to make minimum efforts to verify whether the actual 5G service subscribers are correct and whether the power of attorney for litigation was delegated," and requested the plaintiffs to supplement the materials and submit them by August 8, one month later. The second hearing is expected to take place on the morning of August 26.

Meanwhile, before the trial started, attorney Lee Hana of the plaintiff side held a briefing and said, "Starting with SK Telecom, lawsuits will be sequentially filed against KT and LG Uplus," and added, "The scale of the lawsuits is expected to continue to grow."

According to Serim, currently, about 320 plaintiffs have been recruited for lawsuits related to KT and LG Uplus. The lawsuit amount is basically 500,000 KRW per person, which can increase up to 1,300,000 KRW depending on specific circumstances such as devices and plans.

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