A suit by a floating crane lessor against the Korean agent of a foreign shipowner for rental fees

A floating crane rental company sued the Korean agent of a foreign shipowner for rental fees under a floating crane lease.

The Korean agent argued that it was not a party to the lease but merely the foreign shipowner's agent, and therefore was not liable to pay the rental fees.

Attorney Jaehoon Lee represented the Korean agent in the suit for rental fees.

The main issues were whether the actual party to the floating crane lease was the foreign shipowner or the Korean agent, and whether the Korean agent bore independent contractual liability merely because it had been involved in signing the contract and in the payment process.

In particular, the effect of commercial agency under the Commercial Act, the standard for identifying the contracting party, and the evidentiary weight of invoices and tax invoices were at issue.

Attorney Lee reviewed the circumstances in which the floating crane lease was signed and the legal relationship between the foreign shipowner and the Korean agent, and argued that the actual contracting party was the foreign shipowner.

In particular, he analyzed the commercial agency provision of Article 48 of the Commercial Act and the related case law, and argued that the Korean agent had merely performed work as the shipowner's agent and bore no independent liability to pay the rental fees.

He also pointed out that the invoices prepared by the other side named the foreign shipowner as the contractual payor, and argued that the payments remitted through the Korean agent were part of its agency work, not payments made as a contracting party.

In addition, he contested how the tax invoices submitted by the other side were issued and received, and examined the legal basis and evidentiary weight of the claim against the Korean agent.