Social commerce company that ‘abuses power’ is held liable for damages

In addition to the unpaid amount, liability for damages due to contract termination is also covered.
He frequently engages in ‘abuse of power’ behavior such as verbal abuse towards employees… Contacting other companies during the contract process
The court said, “The defendant’s illegal actions were the cause… There is no problem with the plaintiff’s claim.”
 

The court ruled that damages must be compensated for social commerce companies that ‘abused their power’. The reasons cited were for imposing unfavorable conditions on companies that signed logistics contracts or failing to properly pay outstanding payments.

On the 11th, the Namyangju Branch of the Uijeongbu District Court ruled in favor of the plaintiff in a lawsuit filed by logistics company A against fashion social commerce company B.

Previously, Company A signed a logistics contract with Company B in August of last year. After signing the contract, Company A carried out work as specified in the contract, but Company B continued to point out negligence in work as a problem.

In addition, it was revealed that Company B engaged in abusive behavior, such as arbitrarily setting deadlines and verbally abusing Company A employees when they failed to meet them.

In addition, circumstances were discovered in which Company B deceived Company A by preparing a new contract with another logistics company even though it was under a contract with Company A.

In the end, Company A, unable to endure this abuse of power any longer, notified Company B of termination of the contract in September of the same year.

However, Company A was unable to receive payment for the outstanding logistics fee from Company B.

Accordingly, Company A filed a lawsuit, saying, “The contract was terminated due to Company B’s negligence. Payment of approximately 16 million won, including the unsettled amount, etc.”

In addition, at the time, Company A had incurred expenses such as recruiting new employees to fulfill the contract, and requested compensation for these additional funds. It is claimed that damages occurred due to termination of the contract.

The court also deemed Company A’s claim to be justified. The court determined that the plaintiff suffered due to the defendant's unreasonable demands, which led to termination of the contract and resulted in financial loss.

“Company B committed illegal acts, such as making unfair demands and interfering with the settlement process,” said Kim Ho-jeong, a lawyer at Daeryun Law Firm, the legal representative. “In addition to abuse of power, Company B also had noise in the payment settlement process, because the settlement was made based on a file containing distorted information and many items were omitted.”

He added, “This can be seen as liability for illegal acts under Article 389, Paragraph 3 and Article 210 of the Commercial Act,” adding, “Therefore, we have an obligation to compensate for not only the settlement amount but also related expenses, such as hiring new employees to handle the increased workload due to the contract.”

Reporter Kim Jong-cheol (jckim99@sportsseoul.com)

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Social commerce company that 'abused' is held liable for damages (Shortcut)