Law Firm Changchun represented the State property management authority in the suit brought by the Seoul Metropolitan Government to revoke the occupancy charges the authority had imposed for the City's unauthorized occupation of State property around Sejong-daero, and obtained a final judgment in the authority's favor (Supreme Court, Apr. 29, 2020, 2020Du30702).
The Seoul Metropolitan Government had been using State land around Sejong-daero as a road without any acquisition procedure, and from around 2016 pressed ahead with construction of the Seoul Hall of Urbanism and Architecture in the name of building cultural facilities and a plaza, without any consultation with the State. When the State property management authority imposed occupancy charges of approximately KRW 640 million on the City, the City brought suit to revoke that imposition.
In that action the City argued that the imposition was unlawful because the State had abolished the property's public use or had waived exclusive rights of use and profit, and the court of first instance accepted the City's argument.
Acting for the State property management authority (the defendant), Law Firm Changchun analyzed in detail some seventy years of ownership and use of the land in question and the facts of the compensation consultations between the City and government ministries, and through a close analysis of the State Property Act and its subordinate legislation successfully proved that the City's arguments and the first instance court's reasoning were unsound. The appellate court and the Supreme Court accordingly held that the State's imposition of occupancy charges was lawful (judgment against the plaintiff).
Law Firm Changchun represents clients in many real estate disputes, including claims for return of unjust enrichment and occupancy charges arising from unauthorized occupation of property, providing the most effective legal services available.
[The Seoul Hall of Urbanism and Architecture, on the State property in question]