The Supreme Court en banc ruled on the 24th that the lower court's dismissal order against the defendant, who failed to timely pay the filing fee while appealing the first instance civil judgment, was lawful. This conclusion was based on the majority opinion of nine Supreme Court justices.
Mr. A lost in a civil lawsuit in November 2020 and appealed to the court in December of the same year. When appealing, both an appeal document and the filing fee must be submitted. However, Mr. A only submitted the appeal document without the filing fee.
Subsequently, the first-instance court issued a correction order to Mr. A, stating, "Pay the filing fee within 5 days." However, Mr. A did not pay the filing fee within the specified period.
Then, on the 9th day after the correction order was delivered, the first-instance court issued a dismissal order for the appeal. On the same day, Mr. A paid the filing fee.
Ultimately, the first-instance court dismissed Mr. A's appeal, stating, "Since he paid the filing fee too late after the dismissal order had already been issued, it cannot be accepted." Dismissal means that the court decides not to hear cases that do not meet legal requirements.
Mr. A immediately filed a petition against the dismissal order. The second-instance court decided to cancel the first-instance court's dismissal order, stating, "The dismissal order is unlawful," because Mr. A paid the filing fee on the same day the dismissal order was issued.
However, the Supreme Court overturned the second-instance ruling and sent the case back. The Supreme Court noted, "The lower court should have examined the sequence of events regarding when the dismissal order was issued and when Mr. A paid the filing fee," adding that it was an error for the lower court to cancel the dismissal order solely because the dates of issuance and payment were the same, indicating a misunderstanding of the relevant legal principles and a failure to conduct necessary examinations.
Accordingly, the Supreme Court overturned the second-instance ruling and sent the case back to the Incheon District Court.