An Elderly Person Who Claimed 300 Million Won in Insurance Over 8 Years... Supreme Court Rules "Unjust Enrichment"

Hospitalized 25 Times Over 507 Days... Received Total Insurance Payout of 330 Million Won
Court: "Hospitalized Excessively Long for Illness Not Requiring Admission"

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Kyung-jun] An elderly man who repeatedly admitted and discharged himself from hospitals over eight years and received insurance payouts worth hundreds of millions of won was ordered to return part of the money to the insurance company.

The Supreme Court's 3rd Division (Presiding Justice Lee Heung-gu) announced on the 11th that it upheld the lower court's ruling in the final appeal of a lawsuit filed by an insurance company against elderly Mr. A, confirming the insurance contract as void and ordering Mr. A to return approximately 96.7 million won to the insurer.

Mr. A was found to have been hospitalized 25 times for a total of 507 days from 2008 to 2016, starting with treatment for degenerative knee arthritis. From August 2007 to October of the following year, he signed eight insurance contracts and received a total of about 333 million won.

The insurance company filed a lawsuit in 2017, claiming that Mr. A had deliberately taken out multiple insurance policies with coverage to fraudulently obtain insurance payouts and underwent unnecessary hospital treatments.

The key issue in the trial was whether Mr. A’s repeated hospital admissions and discharges were intended to fraudulently obtain insurance money.

The first trial court judged that paying about 400,000 won monthly in premiums was excessive considering Mr. A’s financial situation. The court ordered Mr. A to return the entire amount of insurance money received, considering that he was hospitalized excessively for diseases that did not require multiple surgeries or long-term hospitalization.

The appellate court also recognized Mr. A’s receipt of insurance money as unjust enrichment but ruled that the insurer’s claim for the return of unjust enrichment was subject to a five-year statute of limitations, so insurance payments made before January 2012 could not be reclaimed by the insurer.

The Supreme Court agreed with the appellate court’s judgment.

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