비법인사단 대표자의 주의의무위반과 회원의 위자료 청구권 - 대상판결: 대법원 2024. 7. 11. 선고 2023다314022 판결 - = Breach of Duty of Care by Representative of Unincorporated Association and Claim for Damages by members ― Focusing on the Supreme Court Decision 2023Da314022 Decided July 11, 2024 ―

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

In a case where, after a resolution was passed at a general meeting of the village council to oppose a development project, the defendant, as a representative of the village, accepted money in return for an illicit request, drafted an agreement that went against the resolution of the general meeting, and sent an official document withdrawing his opposition, the subject judgment determined that the defendant’s acts that conflicted with the resolution did not infringe on the voting rights of the plaintiffs, who were individual residents of the village council, and since the village council or the plaintiffs did not assume any legal obligation by sending an official document or drafting an agreement that had no legal effect or was unclear, it was difficult to see it as an infringement on the plaintiffs’ rights or interests worthy of legal protection. In addition, the supreme court denied the liability for damages for mental distress recognized by the lower court on the grounds that the development project did not actually proceed. The court of appeal decided that the plaintiff suffered mental damage due to the defendant's breach of duty of care, however the subject judgment focused on whether rights or legally protected interests were infringed as the criteria for determining illegality and judged whether mental distress occurred. This paper determined that if a representative of an unincorporated association commits a crime of receiving a bribe in breach of trust and violates the entire legal order by infringing on the trust relationship of individual members through an act contrary to the general meeting resolution, there is illegality, and this is an infringement on the reliance relationship of individual residents and their collective legal interests. In addition, it would be reasonable to judge that the defendant's actions infringed upon the legal interests of the group that are fused with the trust and expectations of the members of the unincorporated association, thereby causing mental damage.