Damages claim and civil mediation over embezzlement by company officers and employees

In this matter, officers and employees of a company operating a port-related business, who were in charge of personnel, payroll, accounting and fund disbursement, embezzled company funds by overstating the wages of day laborers.

The officers and employees were criminally charged with inflating the day laborers' working hours, processing internal approvals for wage payments, and misappropriating the difference from the wages that actually had to be paid.

Attorney Jaehoon Lee represented the victim company, reviewed the materials from the related criminal case, and pursued civil proceedings to recover the damages claim arising from the embezzlement.

The main issues were whether the officers and employees involved could be held liable in tort for embezzlement committed through the company's internal payroll and fund disbursement procedures, and how liability for damages should be allocated according to each person's level of participation.

In particular, it was necessary to distinguish embezzlement in which the officers and employees participated jointly from embezzlement committed by a particular individual alone, and to calculate each person's damages obligation after reflecting restitution already made.

Attorney Lee reviewed the indictment and related materials in the criminal case and analyzed the structure of the embezzlement carried out through the calculation of day laborers' wages, the payment approval requests and the fund disbursement process.

On that basis, he asserted joint tort liability for the embezzlement in which the officers and employees participated jointly, and individual tort liability for the embezzlement committed by a particular individual alone.

He also calculated the remaining damages claim by separating the amount embezzled by each participant from the restitution already paid, and pursued civil proceedings to recover the claim, including applying for a payment order based on the Civil Act provisions on torts and joint torts.

Civil mediation was reached on the damages claim.

Through this, the client fixed the damages obligations and the specific repayment terms, securing a legal basis for future recovery of its losses.