'Innocent Husband in "Mansak Wife Traffic Accident Murder" Case... Loses Lawsuit for "Insurance Money"'

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] A husband accused of causing the death of his pregnant wife in a car accident to claim a large insurance payout has lost a lawsuit against insurance companies demanding payment.

On the 17th, the Civil Division 36 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Hwang Soonhyun) ruled against the plaintiff, Mr. Lee, in his insurance claim lawsuit against Mirae Asset Life Insurance. Last month, Mr. Lee won a lawsuit demanding insurance payment against Samsung Life Insurance.

On this day, the court accepted Mirae Asset Life Insurance’s argument that the insurance contract was invalid due to defects in the written contract consent.

In August 2014, Mr. Lee was prosecuted for crashing a van he was driving into a parked truck near Cheonan IC on the Gyeongbu Expressway. His passenger, his 7-month pregnant Cambodian wife (then 24 years old), died. However, the prosecution charged him with murder based on the fact that he had multiple insurance contracts worth approximately 9.5 billion KRW in his wife’s name and that sedative components were detected in her bloodstains.

The first trial acquitted him, stating that indirect evidence alone could not prove the crime, but the second trial sentenced him to life imprisonment, citing multiple insurance policies taken out before the crime. However, after a retrial, the Supreme Court confirmed his innocence on charges of murder and fraud.

Following this, Mr. Lee filed a lawsuit against insurance companies demanding approximately 9.5 billion KRW in insurance payments. He claimed 3 billion KRW from Mirae Asset Life Insurance. Previously, he won a lawsuit against Samsung Life Insurance. The lawsuit against Kyobo Life Insurance has not yet been concluded.

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