Law, 'Kwon Kyung-ae Loses Defamation Suit for Non-Attendance in School Violence Lawsuit' Referred to Settlement

The bereaved family of a school violence victim is undergoing mediation proceedings after filing a damages claim against lawyer Kwon Kyung-ae, who missed court appearances during the trial.

Attorney Kwon Kyung-ae [Photo by Yonhap News]

According to the legal community on the 2nd, Judge Noh Han-dong of the Seoul Central District Court Civil Division 85 recently referred the damages claim lawsuit filed by Lee Ki-cheol, the mother of the school violence victim, against lawyer Kwon to mediation. Referral to mediation is a procedure where the court encourages resolution of conflicts between both parties through compromise rather than judgment. If mediation fails, the court may impose compulsory mediation with specific conditions, but if either party rejects it, the trial process will resume.

Previously, lawyer Kwon represented Ms. Lee, the mother of the late Park, who suffered from school violence and passed away in 2015, and filed a civil lawsuit against the perpetrators in 2016. Ms. Lee won partially in the first trial, but in the appeal, lawyer Kwon missed three court appearances, resulting in a loss in November last year. It was confirmed that during this period, lawyer Kwon continuously posted political content on social networking services (SNS).

Since lawyer Kwon did not inform the family of the loss, the bereaved family was unable to file an appeal, and the judgment became final. When this was reported in the media, Ms. Lee filed a damages claim lawsuit worth approximately 200 million won in April against lawyer Kwon, the affiliated law firm, and two other lawyers from the same firm. The Korean Bar Association held a full disciplinary committee meeting in June and decided to suspend lawyer Kwon for one year, stating that "the degree of violation of the duty of diligence is serious."

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