〈Case in which the issue was the method of calculating the liability insurance amount where a traffic accident victim died during treatment〉

【Holding】

The meaning of ‘the amount of damage sustained by the victim within the scope of the aggregate of the limit amounts under subparagraphs 1 and 2 of paragraph (1)’ in Article 3(2) subparagraph 1 of the Enforcement Decree of the Guarantee of Automobile Accident Compensation Act, which provides for the liability insurance amount where a victim injured in a traffic accident dies in the course of receiving treatment

【Summary of Decision】

Article 5(1) of the Guarantee of Automobile Accident Compensation Act (hereinafter the ‘Automobile Compensation Act’) provides, in effect, that ‘the owner of an automobile shall subscribe to liability insurance or a liability mutual aid under which the owner assumes liability to pay the victim an amount prescribed by Presidential Decree where another person dies or is injured due to the operation of the automobile.’ This compels automobile owners to subscribe to mandatory insurance in order to protect victims of automobile accidents and to prevent the resulting social losses, while delegating to Presidential Decree the determination of the liability insurance amount that such mandatory insurance must cover, in consideration of the resulting restrictions on automobile owners' freedom of contract and property rights and the social losses from a contraction of automobile transportation.

Accordingly, Article 3(1) of the Enforcement Decree of the Guarantee of Automobile Accident Compensation Act (hereinafter the ‘Enforcement Decree of the Automobile Compensation Act’) provides, as to the liability insurance amount, in effect that, where a person dies due to the operation of an automobile, it shall be ‘the amount of damage sustained by the victim within the scope of 150 million won; provided, however, that where the amount of damage is less than 20 million won, it shall be 20 million won’ (subparagraph 1), and where a person is injured, ‘the amount of damage sustained by the victim within the scope of the amount prescribed in [Attached Table 1]; provided, however, that where the amount of damage falls short of the medical expenses calculated according to the automobile insurance medical fee standards, it shall be the amount of such medical expenses within the scope of the amount prescribed in [Attached Table 1]’ (subparagraph 2). That is, the liability insurance amount in the case of death or injury is set at the amount of damage sustained by the victim, with the main text setting an upper limit on the liability insurance amount in consideration of the interests of automobile owners and the like, and the proviso setting a lower limit on the liability insurance amount in consideration of the protection of automobile accident victims and the like.

Article 3(2) subparagraph 1 of the Enforcement Decree of the Automobile Compensation Act sets the liability insurance amount payable to the victim where an injured person dies during treatment as a result of the injury as ‘the amount of damage sustained by the victim within the scope of the aggregate of the limit amounts under subparagraph 1 and subparagraph 2 of paragraph (1).’

In the above provision, ‘limit’ means the degree to which a quantity or scope is restricted, and ‘scope’ means a certain confined area; and since the above provision, without distinguishing between upper and lower limits, uses the expression ‘the aggregate of the limit amounts,’ the phrase ‘within the scope of the aggregate of the limit amounts under subparagraph 1 and subparagraph 2 of paragraph (1)’ may be understood to mean that not only the aggregate of the upper limits prescribed in the main texts of Article 3(1) subparagraphs 1 and 2 of the Enforcement Decree of the Automobile Compensation Act but also the aggregate of the lower limits prescribed in the respective provisos is set as a limit on the liability insurance amount.

Regarding the above provision as having thus set a lower limit on the liability insurance amount payable to the victim where the victim is injured and dies is consistent with the purport and regulatory structure of the Automobile Compensation Act and its Enforcement Decree, which set lower limits on the liability insurance amount in order to protect the victim where the victim dies or is injured.

Moreover, Article 3(1) of the Enforcement Decree of the Automobile Compensation Act set the lower limit of the liability insurance amount at 20 million won where the victim dies (proviso to subparagraph 1) and at the amount of medical expenses where the victim is injured (proviso to subparagraph 2) on the premise of a situation in which only one of death or injury occurs to the victim; therefore, where the victim is injured and then dies, the liability insurance amount payable to the victim must be guaranteed at least to the extent of the aggregate of the respective lower limits.

Considering the text of Article 3(2) subparagraph 1 of the Enforcement Decree of the Automobile Compensation Act and the purport and structure of the provisions of the Automobile Compensation Act and its Enforcement Decree concerning the setting of the liability insurance amount, it is reasonable to interpret ‘the amount of damage sustained by the victim within the scope of the aggregate of the limit amounts under subparagraphs 1 and 2 of paragraph (1)’ in the above provision concerning the liability insurance amount where a victim injured in a traffic accident dies in the course of receiving treatment as meaning that the liability insurance amount shall be the amount of damage sustained by the victim within the scope of the aggregate of the amounts in the main texts of Article 3(1) subparagraphs 1 and 2 of the Enforcement Decree of the Automobile Compensation Act, i.e., the aggregate of the upper limits, but that, where the amount of damage falls short of the aggregate of the amounts in the provisos to subparagraphs 1 and 2 of the same paragraph, i.e., the aggregate of the lower limits, at least that aggregate amount must be paid to the victim as the liability insurance amount.

【Referenced Statutes】

Article 5(1) of the Guarantee of Automobile Accident Compensation Act, Article 3(1) subparagraphs 1 and 2 and Article 3(2) subparagraph 1 of the Enforcement Decree of the Guarantee of Automobile Accident Compensation Act

(Source : Supreme Court Decision 2024Da238217, March 13, 2025 | Judicial Information Disclosure Portal, Precedents)