The law firm Cheongchul (Attorney in charge: Park Jong-han, Bae Gi-hyang) has proceeded with enforcement procedures against the guarantor who has jointly guaranteed the return of the membership deposit related to the resort membership contract, and in doing so, obtained a victory in the appeal of the lawsuit filed by the opposing guarantor, completely dismissing the claims of the opposing party.

• The client wished to purchase a non-personal golf course usage right, and at that time, a certain company was selling a product that allowed its affiliates' golf courses to be used if one signed up for membership at the resort it operated. Accordingly, the client entered into a resort membership contract with the aforementioned resort company, during which the opposing party entered into a special agreement for joint guarantee regarding the resort company's obligation to refund the membership deposit to the client.

• However, the resort owned by the resort company went up for auction, and the separate company that won the bid had no financial capacity. The client then demanded that the opposing party fulfill its joint guarantee responsibility for the obligation to refund the membership deposit, and the law firm Cheongchul, acting on the client's behalf, applied for attachment and collection orders on various claims held by the opposing party and received a favorable ruling.

• Then, the opposing party argued that, as the resort was auctioned off, Article 8(2) of the Tourism Promotion Act applied, and thus the separate company that won the bid had assumed all obligations including the obligation to refund the deposit under the resort membership contract, and therefore no longer recognized any joint guarantee responsibility by themselves, and subsequently filed a lawsuit against the enforcement. The law firm Cheongchul rebutted all the opposing party's claims in the first instance of this lawsuit and obtained a ruling dismissing all the claims of the opposing party, and afterward, the opposing party changed their legal representative and filed an appeal.

During the appeals process, the law firm Cheongchul argued that (i) in cases where membership contract relationships are succeeded under Article 8(2) of the Tourism Promotion Act, it should be viewed that if the opposing party member raises objections within a reasonable period after becoming aware of that succession, they can escape from the binding of that succeeded membership contract relationship, emphasizing that the client raised objections within a reasonable period after becoming aware that the resort was taken over by a separate company, (ii) the opposing party, as the guarantor, fully knew that they could bear responsibility for the guarantee in case the financial capacity of the main debtor, the resort company, deteriorated when they entered into the joint guarantee special agreement, thus it cannot be said that they suffer unforeseen damages even if the member escapes from the binding of the membership contract relationship due to such objections, (iii) as the timing of such exercise of objection rights by the member is limited to a reasonable period after becoming aware of the transfer of tourism business facilities, it is difficult to consider that the position of the guarantor has become excessively unstable, and the court accepted Cheongchul's opinion as it is.

The court rendered a judgment rejecting all of the plaintiff's appeals.

There are significantly many problematic creditors related to this resort and the resort membership contract aside from this client. In particular, there are Supreme Court rulings that have dismissed claims for refund of deposits by other creditors against the opposing party. In this situation, Cheongchul has managed to lead the victory in this first instance and appeals with a completely different logic and has been able to protect the client's interests, which is of great significance.

The law firm Cheongchul promises to continue to do our best for the client's interests in the future.