Former Hi-Mart Chairman Seon Jong-gu returned 9 billion won after receiving unreasonably increased wages at the company during his tenure.
The second part of the Supreme Court confirmed the lower court ruling that part of the plaintiffs won the lawsuit, including compensation for damages, that Lotte Hi-Mart had against former Chairman Sun.
As a result, the lawsuit between the two sides over the severance pay and wages for nine years was concluded with Hi-Mart's 'decision victory'.
According to the court decision, the former chairman of Shenzhen must pay 9.07 billion won to the company, and the company must pay 2.6 billion won to the former chairman.
In March 2013, Lotte Hi-Mart filed a lawsuit claiming 18.26 billion won in remuneration, which was unfairly increased by the former chairman of Shenzhen, saying that he had significantly increased his wages without going through a resolution of the board of directors while he was in office.
In addition, the former chairman of the company claimed about 80 million won for paying his spouse's driver's salary as company money.
In response, former Chairman Sun filed a countersuit claiming 5.2 billion won in severance pay, claiming that he did not receive severance pay from the company.
Before the repatriation and repatriation, the first and second trial judges favored former Chairman Sun.
It was determined that the increase in remuneration was done legally and that the severance pay was not paid.
Accordingly, the first trial judged that the company should return about 5.1 billion won and the second trial 3.7 billion won to the former chairman.
However, in June 2020, the Supreme Court dismissed the case as the Seoul High Court, dismissing the case as unfair, saying, "The general meeting of shareholders approved only the limit of the total annual remuneration, and no resolution was made on the specific remuneration payment of individual directors." Sent back.
The judgment of the reversal and remandment trial judged that the entire 18.26 billion won was unfairly paid in accordance with the purpose of the Supreme Court's judgment.
As a result, it was decided that the former chairman should pay 11.6 billion won, including the spouse's driver's salary, to the company after deducting income tax withheld from the increased remuneration of 18.26 billion won.
However, the court held that Lotte Hi-Mart was obligated to pay 5.2 billion won in severance pay to former Chairman Sun, just like the ruling before the retrial and remand.
In the process of calculating the amount of payment, the court deemed that 2.6 billion won worth of receivables owned by Lotte Hi-Mart and former chairman Shenzhen were offset.
Therefore, the former chairman of Shenzhen should pay 9.07 billion won to Lotte Hi-Mart, and Lotte Hi-Mart should pay 2.6 billion won to the former chairman.
As a result, in reality, the company is expected to receive 6.47 billion won in return from former Chairman Sun.
(Photo = Yonhap News)