Court "Individual agreement without contribution takes precedence over standard contract"

Union: “Additional fees are possible in the standard contract”
Union members "separate confirmation takes priority"... 2nd degree victory

It was ruled that if a local housing association wrote a separate letter of assurance to its members stating that ‘there will be no additional contribution’, it could not make a request even if the project cost was later increased. The court ruled that individual agreements written only to specific people take precedence over standard contracts that apply to all union members.

Last September, the Suwon District Court ruled in favor of the plaintiff, as in the first trial, and dismissed the defendant's appeal in a lawsuit claiming the return of down payment, etc., paid by plaintiff A, a union member, against housing association B.

Mr. A joined the union in July 2016 and received a separate letter of confirmation stating that ‘there will be no additional contributions.’ At first, Mr. A hesitated to sign the contract due to concerns about additional contributions, but he believed in the letter of commitment given by the union and paid about 30 million won, including the down payment.

However, the union requested an additional contribution of tens of millions of won from Mr. A due to an increase in project expenses after the 2022 extraordinary general meeting. When Mr. A refused based on the letter of confirmation, the union expelled Mr. A. In the end, Mr. A filed a lawsuit requesting cancellation of the contract and return of the prepaid deposit on the grounds of the union's violation of the contract, and won in the first trial.

Accordingly, the union appealed, claiming, “The other standard contract signed by Mr. A clearly stated that ‘we are aware that additional contributions may occur.’”

The judgment of the second trial court was the same as the first trial. The court ruled that if the contents of two documents conflict, the individual agreement takes precedence.

The court said, “It can be seen that the union encouraged the signing of a contract by offering advantageous terms such as ‘exemption of additional contributions’ to only some union members, including Mr. A, in order to actively recruit early union members,” and explained, “The special promise that the union made itself cannot now be overturned by citing other provisions of the standard contract.”

Attorney Yoon Ja-young of Daeryun Law Firm, who represented Mr. A, said, “When the client was concerned about the additional contribution, the union wrote a special letter of assurance saying ‘exemption of additional fee’ and proved the specific circumstances that led to the contract through fact confirmation letters, etc.,” adding, “The court also ruled that the union must keep its individual promises, so we were able to achieve a good result.”

Digital Content Team

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Court "'No contribution' individual agreement takes precedence over standard contract" (Shortcut)