Background
Our client and the client's former spouse concluded their divorce proceedings through court mediation in June 2009. A mediation record has the same effect as a final judgment and can be enforced directly. Later, however, the two agreed that the mediation record would not be enforced.
When the former spouse nonetheless moved to enforce it, our client filed an objection suit (cheonggu ieui, a lawsuit asking the court to bar enforcement of an existing enforceable title).
What Was at Stake
The former spouse argued that the agreement was conditional on a parcel of land being released from a development-restricted green belt, obtaining a building permit, and selling the land. Because the land had not been released in about five years and six months, the former spouse argued that (1) the condition had failed and the agreement was void, (2) our client's performance had become impossible, releasing the former spouse as well, and (3) tying the former spouse's rights to an unattainable condition violated good faith.
How Changchun Helped
The court granted our client's claim to bar enforcement. The appellate court adopted the first-instance findings and also addressed the new arguments raised on appeal.
No basis for a conditional agreement. The evidence did not show that the agreement was conditional.
Impossibility was not established. Nothing showed that the green-belt release had become impossible or that performance could no longer occur, so all three arguments were rejected.
Outcome
In August 2022, the first-instance court barred enforcement under the mediation record. In May 2024, the appellate court dismissed the former spouse's appeal, and in September 2024 the Supreme Court of Korea dismissed the final appeal without a hearing on the merits. The former spouse bears the costs of both appeals.
Even an old mediation record can be blocked through an objection suit if the parties later agreed not to enforce it. Keeping records of such an agreement and how it was reached is essential. (Outcomes depend on the facts of each case.)