Law Firm Cheongchul (Attorney in charge: Lee Young-kyung, Eom Sang-yun) represented the project owner in responding to the claims for direct payment for construction costs filed by the subcontractors and successfully defended against all of the plaintiffs' claims. 

The legal relationships related to construction projects primarily involve the project owner who commissioned the work, the main contractor who received the work from the project owner, and the subcontractor who, in turn, has a contract with the main contractor. Each legal relationship is governed by the contractual relationships with the respective parties. In other words, the rights and obligations are defined according to the legal relationships between the project owner and the main contractor, and between the main contractor and the subcontractor, and it is generally the case that they can make claims against each other.

For a subcontractor to exercise the right to claim direct payment against a project owner with whom they do not have a direct contractual relationship, they must fall under the application of the Subcontracting Act and meet the requirements for the right to claim direct payment. Law Firm Cheongchul thoroughly explained to the court, based on the wording of the law and relevant case law, that the plaintiffs' claims did not fall under the application of the Subcontracting Act and did not meet the criteria for the right to claim direct payment under that Act.

As in this case, claims that are allowed by law rather than those typically based on contractual relationships on construction sites need to be carefully examined regarding the applicability and requirements of the relevant laws. The court accepted Cheongchul's argument and dismissed all of the plaintiffs' claims.

Law Firm Cheongchul is composed of attorneys who have worked on construction, real estate, and subcontracting matters at large law firms and are ready to handle your business and are currently involved in multiple construction real estate litigations.

If you have any questions regarding construction real estate or subcontracting matters, please do not hesitate to contact Cheongchul.