2023년 중요 해상판례 소개

Abstract

Six major maritime cases rendered in Korea in 2023 were selected and reviewed, and the summary is as follows: (1) In Supreme Court Judgment 2020Da275311 rendered on February 2, 2023, the Court held that, inasmuch as a bareboat charter was terminated due to a charterer’s fault, the charterer shall be liable for damages arising from the termination of the charter, and the loss of profit shall be calculated from the time of redelivery when the operation of the vessel was suspended to the time when the vessel owner can ordinarily sell or charter the vessel to a third party. (2) In Supreme Court Judgment 2018Da289825 rendered on August 31, 2023, the Court held that a person who acquired a bill of lading from a person authorized to receive the bill of lading from a carrier on behalf of the shipper for the purpose of security may exercise rights on the bill of lading as a legitimate holder. (3) In Supreme Court Judgment 2022Da208649 rendered on December 14, 2023, a bonded warehouse operator owes a duty of care to confirm whether a delivery order issued by a carrier has been lawfully issued as an evidentiary document for delivery, but the duty of care borne by such bonded warehouse operator as to delivery of cargo is merely to protect the rights of the holder of the bill of lading and other property interests, and to prevent damage, and it is hard to view that such duty of care is owed to the L/C issuing bank that failed to obtain the bill of lading. (4) In Supreme Court Judgment 2022Da272169 rendered on Feb. 2, 2023, the Court held that in a case where an accident insurance provides for exclusion from liability "while the ship’s crew, etc. are aboard the ship in the course of performing their duties,", such exclusion clause may be applied in cases where even if the ship’s crew, etc. left the ship after boarding the ship due to an occupational act for the operation of the ship, such as repair work, and where it can be evaluated that the state of being aboard the ship as a whole continues in light of the purpose and background of the departure, the distance and time of departure. (5) In Constitutional Court Decision 2020Hun-Ba604 rendered on May 25, 2023, the Court held that Article 22(2) of the Fishery Resources Management Act, which prohibits fishing activities with the help of other fisheries in order to enhance the fishing effect of permitted fisheries, did not infringe the freedom of occupation. (6) In Seoul High Court Judgment 2022Nu43742 rendered on February 1, 2024, the court ruled that, since only the Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries has the exclusive authority to regulate the collaborative acts of scheduled overseas cargo transportation services providers as set forth in Article 29 of the Marine Transportation Act and the KFTC does not have the authority to regulate such acts, the KFTC’s corrective order and surcharge payment order prohibiting the collaborative acts of Korea-Southeast Asian marine cargo transportation services providers as to cargo rates should be revoked.