Court Orders "Yojin Development to Fulfill Donation Obligations"... Goyang City Wins Appeal

Goyang-si Secures Enforceability of Execution Judgment in Second Trial, Increases Donated Area

Goyang City Hall

[Asia Economy Reporter La Young-cheol] The court ruled in favor of Goyang City in Gyeonggi Province in the second trial regarding the non-fulfillment of the 'Y-CITY' donation obligation lawsuit filed against Yojin Development.

On the 24th, Goyang City announced, "We received a ruling from the Seoul High Court ordering Yojin Development to fulfill the donation obligation for the office building in the appeal trial we filed against Yojin Development."

Earlier, on the 20th, the 22nd Civil Division of the Seoul High Court ruled, "Yojin Development must complete the ownership transfer registration procedure to Goyang City for a 65,874㎡ share of the building with a total floor area of 66,121㎡."

Yojin Development had promised to donate an office building on the condition of using 16,870㎡ of public contribution land as mixed-use residential and commercial land in the Baekseok Y-CITY housing construction project but failed to fulfill the donation obligation even after completion.

Accordingly, Goyang City filed a civil lawsuit in 2019 to enforce the donation obligation against Yojin Development.

The first trial resulted in a 'confirmation judgment of donation obligation debt,' which did not allow compulsory execution, but the second trial delivered a 'judgment to enforce the donation obligation,' enabling compulsory execution.

The donation area also increased by 409㎡, changing from 65,465㎡ confirmed in the first trial to 65,874㎡ in the second trial.

In 2009, Yojin Development proposed donating an office building by demolishing distribution business facilities on approximately 110,000㎡ of land at 1237 Baekseok-dong, Ilsandong-gu, Goyang City, and constructing a mixed-use apartment complex with 36,247㎡ of land and an office building worth about 120 billion KRW.

However, the city did not specifically state the scale or value of the office building subject to donation in the initial agreement or the additional agreement signed in April 2012 during the 5th elected administration.

Subsequently, Yojin Development constructed and sold the Y-CITY mixed-use apartment complex (6,6137㎡ at 1237 Baekseok-dong) with a total project cost of 1.969 trillion KRW, generating profits but failing to fulfill the promised donation obligation.

As a result, in September last year, Goyang City and Yojin Development engaged in a lawsuit at the Seoul High Court demanding building construction and donation fulfillment.

The city submitted all investigation materials and the results of the 'Yojin Y-CITY Donation Non-fulfillment Special Audit' to the prosecution for investigation and filed charges against five related public officials for breach of duty and other offenses.

A city official stated, "This ruling greatly increases the possibility of the office building donation," and added, "We plan to review whether to appeal as soon as the appeal court's judgment arrives."

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