Full Recovery of Contracted Amount Through Civil Claim — Following Criminal No-Crime Decision

Client Information

Individual / Plaintiff
 

Case Details

The client agreed to sell a freight truck to an acquaintance, transferring the vehicle on the promise that the acquaintance would repay KRW 21.6 million in monthly instalments through income generated by operating it. No payments were ever made.

The client later discovered the acquaintance had already sold the vehicle to a third party.

A criminal fraud complaint was filed, but the investigating authority issued a no-crime decision, accepting the acquaintance's claim that existing debts had prevented repayment.

The client then approached Decent Law to explore civil options.

A no-crime decision in criminal proceedings reflects the investigating authority's conclusion that the elements of fraud — specifically deception and intent to misappropriate — were not sufficiently established. This determination has no bearing on whether a civil claim for the contracted amount exists.

In a civil claim for a contracted sum, the two essential elements are straightforward: whether a valid agreement was formed between the parties, and whether the other party failed to perform under that agreement.

The acquaintance's argument that existing debts had made repayment impossible may carry some weight in criminal proceedings as a basis for negating fraudulent intent. In civil proceedings, however, it does not extinguish the underlying obligation. The inability to pay does not eliminate the duty to pay.

Decent Law structured the civil claim around evidence already established during the criminal investigation — the signed contracts, messenger chat records, and documentation of the vehicle's disposal to a third party — and brought the case before the civil courts.