Supreme Court: Adult Guardians May Perform All Litigation Acts If Approved by the Court

Court: "With court permission, all litigation acts are 'comprehensively permitted'"

If a court's permission has been obtained for the litigation acts of a guardian for an adult ward, it is possible to conduct related litigation without obtaining separate permission, according to the first Supreme Court ruling on this matter.

The Supreme Court's 2nd Division (Presiding Justice Jo Jae-yeon) announced on the 21st that it dismissed the retrial petition filed by A's family in a medical malpractice lawsuit.

A lost consciousness due to a medical malpractice incident in November 2015 and did not recover. A and his family filed a lawsuit against the hospital.

The court appointed A's spouse, B, as the guardian for A and imposed a condition that “litigation acts and the hiring of lawyers for such acts” require prior court approval.

The medical malpractice lawsuit concluded with the hospital paying compensation to A's side, and A's side paying overdue medical fees and room charges before discharge. However, B raised issues during the litigation process and filed a retrial petition with the Supreme Court.

B argued that since he conducted litigation acts without the court's permission, the trial should be redone. He had only received permission from the court regarding the appeal trial and lawyer hiring, but responding to the hospital's counterclaim during the appeal and filing an appeal against the appellate court's judgment were acts performed without court approval.

The retrial focused on whether, when the court initiates adult guardianship and stipulates that the guardian must obtain court approval for litigation acts, separate court approval is required for responding to counterclaims and filing appeals on judgments related to counterclaims.

The Supreme Court held that the court's permission for the guardian's litigation acts means a “comprehensive approval” for all litigation acts except for some special matters such as withdrawal of the lawsuit or settlement.

It also judged that Civil Code Article 950 and Civil Procedure Act Article 56 can be analogously applied. Article 950 of the Civil Code stipulates that when a guardian performs certain acts including litigation, if there is a guardian supervisor, the guardian must obtain his consent. Article 56 of the Civil Procedure Act allows most litigation acts, except for some such as withdrawal or settlement, to be performed without the guardian supervisor's consent.

The court stated, “If the court has granted permission for the main lawsuit filing, it should be regarded that the guardian can perform litigation acts without special authorization for responding to counterclaims raised during the continuation of the main lawsuit and for appeals against judgments on counterclaims.”

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