[Breaking] Supreme Court Plenary Changes View on Compensation Claims: 'Deduct After Inheritance' Instead of 'Inheritance After Deduction' for Survivor Pensions

When a person who was entitled to receive a retirement pension dies due to a work-related injury caused by another person's illegal act, the claim for damages equivalent to the deceased heir's lost retirement pension (future payments that will no longer be received) is initially jointly inherited by the heirs. Subsequently, only the heir who receives the survivor's pension must deduct the survivor's pension they received from the inherited claim for damages, according to a Supreme Court plenary session ruling.

This ruling adopts the so-called "deduction after inheritance" method, where, to prevent overlapping compensation for damages after inheritance according to the inheritance share, only the heir who receives separate benefits such as pensions deducts from the inherited claim for damages.

Previously, in a 1995 case involving the private school teachers' pension, the Supreme Court adopted the "deduction before inheritance" method, which meant that to prevent duplicate payments, the entire claim for damages equivalent to the lost retirement pension under the "Public Officials Pension Act" applied by the "Private School Teachers Pension Act" was deducted by survivor's pensions, and the remainder was jointly inherited. The Supreme Court plenary session today changed this previous Supreme Court precedent.