The bereaved family of a school violence victim has filed a criminal complaint for fraud against lawyer Kwon Kyung-ae, who caused them to lose a lawsuit after failing to attend court hearings despite being retained to represent them.

Lee Ki-chul, the mother of the late Park Joo-won, submitted a complaint to the Seocho Police Station in Seoul yesterday (August 13), requesting that lawyer Kwon be punished for fraud.

In the complaint, the bereaved family emphasized that "Kwon failed to attend court twice during the first trial, and coincidentally, both instances occurred right after her own mistakes were exposed," arguing that Kwon intentionally avoided attending the hearings.

According to the family, Kwon made mistakes such as claiming only consolation money for the bereaved family while omitting consolation money for Park herself as well as the expected future earnings Park would have made had she not passed away. The family stated that Kwon suddenly failed to appear in court every time these mistakes came to light during the first trial.

Furthermore, the bereaved family stated in the complaint that even after the first trial, Kwon deceived them by having them retain her for the appellate trial without informing them that her own mistakes had caused an issue regarding the statute of limitations (three years) on their claim.

The bereaved family's position is that this kind of case handling and legal representation strategy constitutes fraud, as it deceived the client and swindled them out of legal fees.

Park, who suffered from school violence, took her own life in 2015. The following year, the bereaved family filed a damages lawsuit against the perpetrators, the school foundation, and the City of Seoul, retaining Kwon as their legal representative.

The bereaved family won a partial victory in the first trial, but during the subsequent appellate trial between September and November 2022, Kwon failed to attend three consecutive court hearings, which was treated as a withdrawal of the appeal and ultimately resulted in a loss.

The bereaved family has also previously applied to the Supreme Court for a constitutional review of the law, arguing that being deprived of the right to a trial simply due to a lawyer's failure to attend is unconstitutional.

(Photo: Yonhap News)