Supreme Court nullifies ruling made on the wrong day

South Korea's highest court has nullified an appellate case in which the judge changed the date for the verdict but made the ruling on the original day without notifying either the plaintiff or the defendant.

The Supreme Court ordered the Daejeon District court to redeliberate a contract case for which the lower court issued a verdict on Dec. 16. The verdict was initially slated to be given on Dec. 9, but the presiding judge changed the date to Dec. 16, then again to Jan. 13 on the morning of Dec. 16.

Legal representatives of both sides received notifications for the January sentencing the same morning.

But the court then issued a verdict in the afternoon of Dec. 16, without notifying either the plaintiff or the defendant. The two sides were told the next day by phone that the ruling had taken place, and the court discarded the documents related to the date change.

The plaintiff, who lost the case, appealed the decision, and the Supreme Court acknowledged the Daejeon court's process was unlawful.

"The judge ordered the date change and notified both sides, which means the order took effect. Thus the ruling date should be considered to have been changed to Jan. 13," the top court said, adding that a mistake by the court and a lack of documents could not affect its decision.

The Supreme Court said that since Dec. 16 was no longer the date of the ruling, the lower court effectively announced its decision without lawfully notifying the plaintiff and the defendant of when it would do so.