Defending suits for surrender of a building and payment for goods arising from a corporate control dispute

After control of a medical device company changed hands, a dispute arose between the former and the new management over the company's assets and business dealings.

The former manager sued for surrender of the building and unpaid rent, claiming that rent for the real estate the company used had not been paid, and a separate company run by the former manager's side sued the new manager for return of payment for goods.

Attorney Jaehoon Lee represented the company and the new manager in the related civil suits.

In the building surrender suit, the main issues were whether the parties had agreed that rent under the lease would be paid by covering the property owner's bank loan interest, whether termination of the lease for rent arrears was valid, and whether return of the lease deposit and surrender of the building were concurrent obligations.

In the suit for payment for goods, the issues were whether movements of goods between companies run by managers who were family members amounted to actual sales transactions, whether a debt for goods could be established from entries in transaction statements and sales ledgers alone, and which company owned the goods in question.

Attorney Lee analyzed the circumstances in which the lease was signed and the record of bank loan interest payments, argued that the company had performed its obligation to pay rent, and reviewed the law on the concurrent performance of returning the lease deposit and surrendering the building.

He also reviewed how the related companies were established and how control changed hands, and the records of importing, purchasing and storing the goods, and contested the reliability of the transaction statements and sales ledgers submitted by the other side and the existence of any debt for goods.

In particular, he distinguished movements of goods between companies from actual sales transactions, and analyzed corporate registry records, tax invoices and related transaction materials to establish who owned the goods and who the parties to the transactions were, building the defense in the litigation.