증권관련집단소송에 관련된 소송법적 쟁점―집단소송법 제정안 검토를 포함하여―

Abstract

In Korea, the Securities-related Class Action Act(“SRCA”) has been effective for about 15 years. While its purpose was to prescribe a special procedure to the Korean Civil Procedure Law(“KCPL”) regarding securities-related class action, most of the discussions were focused on how to increase the usage of securities-related class action or the substantive securities law, and much less attention has been paid to its procedural issues. Meanwhile, on September 28, 2020, the Korean Ministry of Justice announced its proposed bill for a new Class Action Act which will repeal SRCA and expand its scope of application to all fields of tort cases. Since the proposed bill contains many provisions which take after those of SRCA, at this point, it is essential to examine procedural issues which have been brought up regarding securities-related class action. This article will closely examine the procedural issues dealt with in the Korean Supreme Court Decisions rendered so far on securities-related class action, and also provide in depth construction of the SRCA provisions and relevant KCPL provisions. More specifically, it discusses procedural issues regarding (i) courts(judge disqualification/jurisdiction), (ii) parties(class, class representative, class members and their separate actions), (iii) class counsel, (iv) initiation of class action/permission of the class action, (v) settlement, and (vi) appeal, and in each section it reviews the corresponding provisions in the proposed bill. In order for the class action system to succeed, it is required to enact a legislation which can be harmonized with the existing Korean civil procedure framework while considering the distinct characteristics of class action which are designed to effectively resolve collective damage disputes.