[Invest&Law] Divorce Alimony Lawsuit Against Choi Tae-won's Cohabitant to Be Ruled in August, Likely to Affect Divorce Proceedings

Cause of Divorce Trigger Likely Used as Basis for Alimony Calculation
Supreme Court May Also Refer
Appeal Court Judgment Claims Chairman Choi's Error
Immediate Appeal Possible Due to Contribution Adjustment Variable

No So-young, director of Art Center Nabi, will receive the first trial verdict in August for the compensation lawsuit she filed against Kim Hee-young, chairperson of the T&C Foundation and cohabitant of SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, separate from the divorce lawsuit.

According to business and legal circles on the 19th, the Family Division 4 of the Seoul Family Court (Chief Judge Lee Kwang-woo) will deliver the verdict on August 22 for the compensation lawsuit filed by Director No against Chairperson Kim. The compensation amount Director No is demanding from Chairperson Kim is 3 billion KRW. Director No’s side stated, "We expect the court to carefully review the case and make a fair judgment."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Compensation Verdict May Influence Second Trial of Divorce

The divorce lawsuit between Director No and Chairman Chey, which resulted in the largest property division verdict in history amounting to 1.3808 trillion KRW, also drew attention due to the enormous compensation amount. The 3 billion KRW compensation is considered a "significantly large sum," according to reactions inside and outside the legal community. Typically, compensation claims in divorce lawsuits rarely exceed 100 million KRW. The prevailing analysis is that the court will likely accept only a portion of the 3 billion KRW compensation demanded by Director No.

There is also keen interest in what remarks the court will make while determining the compensation amount. The relationship between Chairman Chey and Chairperson Kim was the main cause that triggered the divorce. The court is expected to provide its judgment on this relationship while explaining the basis for calculating the compensation. The Supreme Court may also refer to this case’s ruling when making the final decision on the divorce lawsuit.

Supreme Court Appeal is Principally a ‘Legal Review’... Errors Could Be a Variable

Chairman Chey’s recent claim on the 17th that the appellate court "committed a clear error" has made the Supreme Court’s judgment even more critical. Initially, the appellate court, while assessing Director No’s contribution to SK Group’s growth, calculated the contributions of Chairman Chey and the late Chairman Chey Jong-hyun by valuing the shares of Korea Telecom (the predecessor of SK C&C) at 100 KRW per share as of May 1998, before the late chairman’s passing. When Chairman Chey’s side argued this was an error, the court promptly amended the judgment to change the share value from 100 KRW to 1,000 KRW per share. Consequently, the contribution ratios for Chairman Chey and the late chairman changed from 355 times and 12.5 times to 35.6 times and 125 times, respectively.

If the Supreme Court also regards this as a clear error, it is expected to either remand the case or re-examine the facts. If the correction of the judgment is deemed insignificant, the court will likely proceed with a legal review as is.

Separately, Chairman Chey’s side may file an immediate appeal against the appellate court’s amended decision. This is a request for a higher court to review and correct the lower court’s ruling. The higher court for the Seoul High Court, which issued the appellate ruling, is the Supreme Court. If this occurs, the Supreme Court will have to handle both the appeal and the final appeal simultaneously. However, this process could take a considerable amount of time until a final decision is reached. It is reported that Chairman Chey’s side is seriously considering whether to file the immediate appeal.