4. The Seoul High Court’s Judgment
The Seoul High Court held that the KFTC’s decisions made on the premise that there was a transaction relationship between the plaintiffs and the victims were unlawful, and thus should be revoked.
The grounds are as follows: The plaintiffs in this case had a relationship with the insured only through the insurance contracts and did not do any legal conduct to the victims. The victims only had the right to file a claim for the damage, caused in an accident for which the insured were liable, directly to the plaintiffs in accordance with Article 724(2) of the Commercial Act. Such direct claim is not a modified right of insurance claim nor a similar right the insured have against the plaintiffs, but just a claim for damages the victims can file with the insurers regarding the unlawful act of property damage. Therefore, the relationship between the plaintiffs and the victims was simply based on an unlawful act, and it was difficult to view that there had been a direct transaction relationship between the two parties. In addition, the relationship between the victims and the insured was only based on the same unlawful act, and it was not possible to acknowledge that there was a transaction relationship between the plaintiffs and the victims, which was established through the insured.
5. The Supreme Court’s Judgment
The Supreme Court adopted a wider meaning of the trading relationship that trade is the general means for business activities or trading order. With this understanding, the Court ruled that it was reasonable to view that there had existed a trading relationship, formed through the insured, between the plaintiffs and the victims, considering that the insurers’ obligation to compensate the victims for the property damage was based on the insurance contracts, and that there was much room for unfair trade practices the obligors may engage in, while performing their obligation of damage compensation (for example, the insurers might pay the repair cost on a long-term installment basis, instead of lump sum payment, or pay the amount after a long time). The Court reversed the judgment of the Seoul High Court and remanded the case to the lower court, stating that the lower court showed a lapse in judgment by misunderstanding the legal principles about the concept of trade in connection with unfair trade practices, which affected the judgment. After a retrial, the High Court held that the plaintiffs had violated the MRFTA and the measures made by the KFTC against them were reasonable