Resident Falls to Death from 15th Floor of Automated Parking Tower with Passenger Asleep in Backseat

The apartment management office director and a resident who parked a vehicle have been finalized with guilty verdicts for failing to fulfill their duty of care in connection with an accident where a resident sleeping in the backseat was unaware of the situation, entered a mechanical parking tower, and fell to their death.

According to the legal community, the Supreme Court's Second Division (Presiding Justice Kwon Young-jun) recently finalized the lower court rulings that sentenced the officetel management office director and the resident, identified as A, to 10 million won and 5 million won in fines, respectively, on charges of professional negligence resulting in death.

The incident unfolded in January 2023 at a mechanical parking lot in an officetel in Busan, when a resident inside a vehicle fell and died.

On the day of the accident, a designated driver parked the victim's vehicle on the elevator platform of the mechanical parking lot, left the victim in the backseat, and departed. The victim fell asleep.

Neighboring resident A arrived shortly afterward and looked inside the vehicle, but failed to notice the person inside.

Resident A told a security guard, "There is no one in the car, so I will lift it," and pressed the "entry" button to raise the vehicle. The security guard permitted this without conducting a separate on-site check.

The vehicle was parked at a height equivalent to the 15th floor, and the victim, waking up from sleep, opened the door to get out, fell, and died.

Due to this accident, the security guard, the management office director responsible for managing and supervising the security guard, and resident A, who parked the vehicle, were sent to trial.

The core issue was whether professional negligence could be recognized for them.

The first instance sentenced the management office director and the security guard to 10 months in prison with a two-year suspension of execution each, while resident A was fined 10 million won.

The first instance court concluded that the management office director had a duty to manage and supervise the security guard by ensuring they received mechanical parking lot manager training or monitored parking operations and safety situations via closed-circuit television (CCTV) during night shifts, noting negligence in failing to fulfill professional safety management duties.

The security guard was also judged guilty on the grounds that, having routinely handled tasks related to the mechanical parking lot, operating the vehicle entry constituted official work.

Regarding resident A, who parked the vehicle, the court explained, "Failing to check if someone was inside by opening the vehicle door or contacting the vehicle owner, and only looking from the outside, constitutes negligence that violated general duties of care."

The security guard did not appeal, thereby finalizing the first instance ruling, whereas the management office director and resident A appealed.

The second instance maintained this judgment while considering the first instance sentences against the management office director and A to be too heavy.

The second instance stated, "It is difficult to view the degree of the defendants' violation of the duty of care as severe, and the victim also appears to bear responsibility for the occurrence of the accident."

It added, "In the case of A, there are circumstances showing efforts to fulfill the duty of care to a certain extent," and sentenced the management office director to a fine of 10 million won and A to a fine of 5 million won.

The two individuals appealed, but the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal, ruling that there were no errors such as misinterpretation of legal principles in the lower court judgments that recognized their professional negligence.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.