Seoul Administrative Court [Herald DB]
Seoul Administrative Court [Herald DB]

A court has ruled that a person who loses a final administrative judgment seeking to cancel a disciplinary action cannot overturn the outcome by filing a separate suit to have the same measure declared void.

The second division of the Seoul Administrative Court, presided over by Chief Judge Gong Hyeon-jin, ruled against a university professor identified only as A in a nullification suit the professor filed against the school foundation that employs him.

In September 2023, A received a three-month suspension on grounds including a violation of the duty to maintain professional conduct as a teacher. After filing an appeal with the Teachers' Appeals Review Committee, the penalty was reduced to a one-month suspension.

A then filed an administrative suit seeking to cancel even the reduced suspension, but that case ended in a final ruling against him. He nonetheless brought the present suit, again asking the court to declare the disciplinary action void.

The court held that the binding force of the final judgment in the earlier cancellation suit — known in procedural law as res judicata — extended to the new nullification suit as well, and dismissed A's claim. The principle prevents a party from relitigating the same issue once a final judgment has been rendered.

"The subject matter of the prior judgment was whether the one-month suspension was unlawful," the court said. "The binding effect of that judgment extends to this suit, which seeks a declaration of nullity on the ground that the disciplinary decision was unlawful."

The court added that it could not issue a ruling contradicting the prior judgment and was therefore required to dismiss the claim. Applying res judicata, the court declined to separately examine whether the individual grounds cited for A's discipline actually existed.

A is a professor in a special education department who has publicly argued that the actions of a special education teacher accused in a child abuse case involving the son of webtoon artist Joo Ho-min did not constitute abuse.


sunpine@heraldcorp.com