1st and 2nd Instance Courts: "Only a Passenger Vehicle Lease Contract Between Users and Tada"
Basic Service Cannot Resume Due to Constitutional Ruling on 'Tada Prohibition Act'
The final decision regarding the former and current executives of the vehicle call service "Tada," which was embroiled in controversy over "illegal call taxi operations," will be announced on the 1st.
The Supreme Court's 3rd Division (Presiding Justice Oh Seok-jun) will hold a verdict session in the morning on the appeal trial of Lee Jae-woong, former CEO of Socar, Park Jae-wook, CEO of VCNC, a subsidiary of Socar and operator of Tada, and the corporations Socar and VCNC, who were indicted for violating the Passenger Transport Service Act.
Tada is a service that allows users to call an 11-passenger van with a driver via a smartphone application. It was operated by VCNC, a subsidiary of Socar and the operator of Tada, which rented cars from Socar and then rented them out to customers along with drivers.
The prosecution judged that the Tada service constituted "illegal call taxi operations" prohibited under the Passenger Transport Service Act and brought charges against the former CEO and others.
The defense argued that the Tada service was not transporting passengers but was a concept of "rental cars with drivers," and therefore did not violate the law.
The key issue in the trial was how to legally interpret the actions of Tada users who requested and used vans from Socar through the Tada app.
The first trial court ruled that the Tada service was a rental car that had a van lease contract between the user and Tada and acquitted them.
The second trial also ruled, "Users agreed to the terms of service for van rental including driver arrangement through the Tada app, registered as members, and then made reservation requests to use the Tada service," adding, "The agreed terms of service are a kind of disposition document, so a van rental contract was concluded between Tada users and Socar."
However, even if the former CEO and others are acquitted, they cannot resume Tada's core business, the Tada Basic service, as the Constitutional Court upheld the constitutionality of the "Tada Prohibition Act" passed by the National Assembly in March 2020.
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