법무법인(유한) 율촌 | Yulchon LLC

In defense of ILJIN Display against a U.S. citizen seeking to enforce in Korea a default judgment obtained in Washington state court, Yulchon won the decision for the client after four years of highly contested litigation before the Korean Supreme Court and the Seoul High Court. This decision is note worthy because it stands for the proposition that a foreign judgment may not be enforced in Korea unless the plaintiff has fully complied with procedural requirements of the jurisdiction in which the judgment was issued.
 

The Korean litigation between the parties began in 2006, when after a relatively brief trial the Suwon District Court rendered a decision in favor of the plaintiff. The same year, the Seoul High Court affirmed. In 2008 and 2009, on appeal to the Korean Supreme Court, Yulchon argued that the default judgment should not be enforced because service of process was defective in this case. More specifically, Yulchon noted that the summons issued by the Washington Superior Court provided for a 20-day response time instead of the statutory 60-day response time required for an out-of-state defendant. The Korean Supreme Court agreed and remanded the case to the Seoul High Court to examine the defective service issue.
 

Subsequently, the plaintiff obtained a Washington Superior Court order retroactively amending the summons. The order, while acknowledging the defect in the summons, stated that the defect did not result in any material prejudice to ILJIN since the plaintiff did not move for default judgment until more than 60 days had passed after service of process. The plaintiff then introduced the order into evidence during the remand proceeding before the Seoul High Court.
 

On remand, the Seoul High Court focused on two issues: (i) whether the default judgment was proper given the defective summons; and (ii) whether the order retroactively cured the defect in the summons under Washington state civil procedure. In response, each party submitted to the Seoul High Court a series of memoranda and declarations prepared by their respective local counsel in Washington. In addition, each party produced a former Justice of the Washington Supreme Court as a live witness.
 

In the end, the Seoul High Court adopted the interpretation of Washington state civil procedure shared by ILJIN’s witness and the court-appointed expert, who each testified in court that the defect in the summons deprived the Washington Superior Court of jurisdiction over ILJIN, and that the absence of jurisdiction likewise deprived the Washington Superior Court of the authority to cure the defect by amending the summons. As a result, the court ruled that the default judgment could not be enforced. The plaintiff accepted the decision and elected not to file any further appeal to the Korean Supreme Court.
 

This case was supervised by partner Hae Sik Park and was handled by partner Nam Ho Kim and associate Tae Yong Kim.