▲ Court
A court has ruled once again that an insurance company must pay accident insurance benefits to the bereaved family of the late Master Sergeant Lee Ye-ram, a victim of sexual violence within the Air Force in 2021.
The 9th Civil Division of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judge Lee Jae-kwon) recently ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in an insurance claim lawsuit filed by two family members of Sergeant Lee against Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance.
The court dismissed the defendant's appeal, upholding the first-instance ruling that orders the insurer to pay 300 million won to each of the bereaved family members.
Sergeant Lee, then serving at the 20th Fighter Wing of the Air Force, was sexually harassed by a senior officer in March 2021 and reported the incident, but subsequently suffered from persistent secondary victimization.
Sergeant Lee took her own life in May 2021 at the age of 23, two months after the incident.
The senior officer, Sergeant Jang, who sexually harassed Sergeant Lee, had his seven-year prison sentence finalized by the Supreme Court in September 2022.
The military subsequently recognized Sergeant Lee's death as occurring in the line of duty, prompting the bereaved family to file a claim with the insurer for accidental death benefits.
The insurance policy stipulated that "insurance benefits shall be paid if the insured harms themselves while in a state where they are incapable of making free decisions due to loss of mental faculties or similar conditions."
However, the insurer refused payment, arguing that the statute of limitations for the insurance claim had expired in May 2024, three years after Sergeant Lee's death.
In response, the family filed a civil lawsuit, arguing that the statute of limitations should begin from February 2023, when they were officially notified of the decision recognizing her death as duty-related.
Citing Supreme Court precedents, the first-instance court ruled in favor of the family, stating that the statute of limitations for an insurance claim begins when the claimant knows or could have known of the occurrence of the insured event.
The appellate court reached the same conclusion.
The court pointed out, "At the time, the sexual harassment and other offenses were minimized or concealed by military authorities, but were brought to light through the efforts of the plaintiffs, the bereaved family, with the truth ultimately revealed through an independent counsel's investigation and court trials." It added, "It was only in February 2023—one year and eight months after the deceased passed away—that her death was officially recognized as duty-related."
The court further ruled, "The fact that the plaintiffs claimed the insurance benefits only after the duty-related determination supports the conclusion that they could only have known they were able to file for the benefits after receiving notification of the duty-related recognition."
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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