Seon Jong-gu May Receive Additional Deposit from Hi-Mart Sale... Supreme Court Orders "Recalculation"

1st Trial "Contract Agreement Not Recognized" → 2nd Trial "Contract Personally Concluded"
Supreme Court "Recalculate Agreement Amount After Former Chairman's Salary Lawsuit"

Former Hi-Mart Chairman Seon Jong-gu partially won a lawsuit demanding the return of a contract payment worth 40 billion won from Yoo Kyung-sun, Chairman of Eugene Group. However, the amount of the contract payment that Seon will receive is expected to vary depending on the outcome of a damages lawsuit related to wages already paid to him.

Seon Jong-gu, former chairman of Hi-Mart.

The Supreme Court's 2nd Division (Presiding Justice Lee Dong-won) on the 13th overturned the lower court's ruling that ordered Yoo to pay Seon about 20 billion won in a final appeal lawsuit filed by Seon against Yoo regarding the sale of Hi-Mart, demanding 40 billion won in contract payments and about 6 billion won in gift tax, and sent the case back to the Seoul High Court.

In 2007, Seon agreed to sell Hi-Mart and supported Yoo among seven companies participating in the acquisition battle, handing the company over to Eugene Group. At the same time, Seon agreed to receive 40 billion won from Yoo on the condition that he would participate in the capital increase of Eugene Hi-Mart Holdings and manage Hi-Mart.

In 2011, Eugene Group sought Seon's consent to appoint Yoo as co-CEO of Hi-Mart, but Seon opposed it, causing the two sides to turn against each other. As the conflict intensified, both parties withdrew from the company, and Hi-Mart was sold to Lotte Group.

During this process, Seon filed a lawsuit in 2017 against Yoo, demanding about 46 billion won including contract payments and gift tax. The first trial court ruled in favor of Yoo, stating, "It is difficult to understand an agreement to demand compensation after a stock purchase agreement during the merger and acquisition process, as the order of precedence is reversed."

On the other hand, the second trial court viewed the contract payment agreement as a personal contract between Seon and Yoo. The second trial court judged, "It was concluded between the plaintiff and defendant as individuals, clearly listing them as parties, with signatures and seals." However, it only recognized 20.3 billion won as the contract payment Yoo had to pay Seon.

The Supreme Court found no problem with the lower court's judgment ordering Yoo to pay the contract payment to Seon. However, it ruled that it was problematic to conclude that the scope of contract payment Yoo must bear cannot change even if there is a dispute over the appropriateness of salary deductions from the contract payment.

The Supreme Court stated that if the salary paid to Seon was not validly paid through proper procedures, Seon must return it to Eugene Group as unjust enrichment, and must receive from Eugene Group the amount equivalent to the returned salary.

Meanwhile, although Seon was sentenced to five years in prison by the Supreme Court for causing several billion won in damages to the company during the Hi-Mart sale process, he fled to the United States immediately after the sentencing in August 2021 and disappeared.

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