Plaintiffs sue lawyer for pocketing ￦36.4B
Residents had won gov’t compensation승소했는데 왜?… 의뢰인에게 고소 당한 변호사
Sept 20,2011
Residents of Daegu’s Dong District said they would sue the attorney who represented them in a successful lawsuit against the Ministry of National Defense for noise pollution from the nearby K2 Air Force Base after the lawyer took nearly half of the court-ordered compensation.
The Supreme Court in June ordered the government to pay 79.9 billion won in compensation to the district’s residents, but the district office said their lawyer, surnamed Choi, pocketed 36.4 billion won of the award - 7.6 billion won as service fees and 28.8 billion won in delay fees.
Residents say the 28.8 billion won in delay charges was unjustified, saying that they were not told about the fee when they hired the lawyer. The attorney has refused to return the amount he collected as the delay fee, saying that the charge was added because the case had been at a standstill for two years after the first trial in 2008. The final ruling was made in June 2011.
The district said they hired the lawyer in 2004 under the agreement that he would receive 15 percent of the award if the case won.
Choi has insisted that he clearly mentioned the delay charge in several presentations in the district before the contract was signed, but residents say that only four to five residents participated in the presentations and that they weren’t clearly told of the lawyer’s terms.
“We weren’t aware of the delay charge at all because he never mentioned it,” said Kim Seon-hee, a district resident. “However, as the possibility of winning the case began to grow starting in January, he began to send out notices about the charge through the mail.”
Choi, meanwhile, says that more than 100 residents attended his presentations.
“In the first contract in August 2004, it said that they would pay 20 percent of ruling compensation as my service fee, but we revised the contract in October to add the delay charge as I agreed to reduce my service fee to 15 percent of the ruling compensation,” Choi said.
Filed in 2004, the class-action lawsuit consisted of 80,000 district residents. The Supreme Court ruled in June 2011 that 26,782 of the 80,000 were to receive compensation for noise pollution, or residents whose homes were located in areas with 85 WECPNL or above.
WECPNL, which stands for Weight Equivalent Continuous Perceived Noise Level, is a measurement for noise that is used by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
By Hong Gweon-sam, Kwon Sang-soo [sakwon80@joongang.co.kr]
The Supreme Court in June ordered the government to pay 79.9 billion won in compensation to the district’s residents, but the district office said their lawyer, surnamed Choi, pocketed 36.4 billion won of the award - 7.6 billion won as service fees and 28.8 billion won in delay fees.
Residents say the 28.8 billion won in delay charges was unjustified, saying that they were not told about the fee when they hired the lawyer. The attorney has refused to return the amount he collected as the delay fee, saying that the charge was added because the case had been at a standstill for two years after the first trial in 2008. The final ruling was made in June 2011.
The district said they hired the lawyer in 2004 under the agreement that he would receive 15 percent of the award if the case won.
Choi has insisted that he clearly mentioned the delay charge in several presentations in the district before the contract was signed, but residents say that only four to five residents participated in the presentations and that they weren’t clearly told of the lawyer’s terms.
“We weren’t aware of the delay charge at all because he never mentioned it,” said Kim Seon-hee, a district resident. “However, as the possibility of winning the case began to grow starting in January, he began to send out notices about the charge through the mail.”
Choi, meanwhile, says that more than 100 residents attended his presentations.
“In the first contract in August 2004, it said that they would pay 20 percent of ruling compensation as my service fee, but we revised the contract in October to add the delay charge as I agreed to reduce my service fee to 15 percent of the ruling compensation,” Choi said.
Filed in 2004, the class-action lawsuit consisted of 80,000 district residents. The Supreme Court ruled in June 2011 that 26,782 of the 80,000 were to receive compensation for noise pollution, or residents whose homes were located in areas with 85 WECPNL or above.
WECPNL, which stands for Weight Equivalent Continuous Perceived Noise Level, is a measurement for noise that is used by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
By Hong Gweon-sam, Kwon Sang-soo [sakwon80@joongang.co.kr]
Guide Questions:
1. How did the lawyer become associated to the residents of Daegu’s Dong District?
2. What was the initial agreement between the lawyer and the residents?
3. Was the lawyers actions justified or not? why?
Vocabulary:
standstill
exorbitant
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