Law Firm Changchun LLC represented a purchaser under a townhouse pre-sale contract in a claim against the trust company for refund of the pre-sale price and liquidated damages, and obtained judgment for the purchaser in full.
Our client entered into a pre-sale contract for a residential townhouse and paid several hundred million won as the down payment and interim payments, but the townhouse remained unfinished long past the scheduled occupancy date. Our client accordingly terminated the pre-sale contract as against both the developer and the trust company and requested a refund of the pre-sale price. The trust company refused the refund, shifting responsibility to the developer on the ground that this was a "managed land trust," while the developer had in substance gone under and disappeared, becoming impossible even to contact.
In these circumstances, Law Firm Changchun LLC examined in detail the terms of the pre-sale contract our client had entered into and the circumstances of its conclusion, and acted in the claim against the trust company for refund of the pre-sale price and liquidated damages.
The court granted our client's claims in full, holding that "the trust company must not only refund the pre-sale price to the purchaser directly, but must also pay liquidated damages equal to 10% of the total pre-sale price" — judgment for the plaintiff in full.
The case is significant in making clear that even where the developer has in substance gone under and disappeared, a trust company cannot escape its obligations under the pre-sale contract, including the duty to refund the pre-sale price, merely by pointing to a managed land trust.
Drawing on experience accumulated across many pre-sale contract disputes, Law Firm Changchun LLC conducted a thorough review of the facts and analysis of precedent, obtaining a complete victory against the trust company despite the adverse circumstance of the developer's collapse and enabling our client to recover their assets in full.