'Top Korean Language Instructor Transfer Lawsuit'... Court Orders Instructor to Compensate Megastudy 7.5 Billion Won

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] A court ruling has determined that a top-rated instructor in the Korean language section of the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) must compensate Megastudy with 7.5 billion KRW for transferring to another company before the contract period ended.

According to the court on the 27th, the Seoul Central District Court Civil Division 46 (Presiding Judge Lee Wonseok) ruled on the 24th in the first trial of a damages lawsuit filed by Megastudy against Korean language instructor Yoo that Yoo must pay Megastudy 7.52 billion KRW.

In a counterclaim filed by Yoo against Megastudy demanding unpaid instructor fees, the court ruled that "Megastudy must pay the instructor 580 million KRW."

Previously, Yoo signed a seven-year online lecture contract with Megastudy in September 2015. In 2017, an exclusive agreement was made for offline lectures, extending the contract period until December 2024.

On October 21, 2019, Yoo notified Megastudy that he would no longer conduct online lectures. However, two days later, an advertisement hinting at Yoo's transfer appeared on a competitor's website, and actual lectures were opened.

The original contract included a clause stating that "if the instructor arbitrarily discontinues lectures without consent, the instructor must pay twice the amount of the instructor fees and all financial support received, plus twice the amount obtained by multiplying the average monthly lecture sales by the number of remaining months in the contract period."

Megastudy claimed a total payment of 49.2 billion KRW for refunds and penalties. Yoo argued that there were legitimate reasons for terminating the lecture contract, and even if breach of contract and agreement were acknowledged, Megastudy's calculation was excessively unfair.

The court recognized Yoo's liability for compensation. It stated, "Since the amount to be returned is twice the product of the remaining months multiplied by the lecture sales amount without deducting costs, there is a high possibility that an excessive predetermined amount of damages will be calculated," and added, "Considering that the plaintiff's sales and market dominance are significantly greater than the place Yoo transferred to, it is difficult to conclude that the transfer was necessarily economically more beneficial to Yoo." However, the court also took into account Yoo's claim that the penalty was excessively set.

Additionally, the court ruled that Yoo had not received instructor fees, textbook fees, and incentives, and therefore Megastudy must pay Yoo approximately 500 million KRW.

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