‘Not guilty of killing full-term wife’ husband wins another $3.1 billion lawsuit

The husband of a Cambodian woman who was accused of murder and then acquitted after his wife died in a car accident has won another lawsuit against her insurer.

The Civil Division 9 of the Seoul High Court 먹튀검증(Chief Judge Seong Ji-yong Baek Sook-jong) ruled in favor of the plaintiff in the second trial of an insurance claim filed by Lee’s aunt, 53, against Samsung Life Insurance, ordering the insurer to “pay a lump sum of 220 million won to Lee and 60 million won to Lee’s children,” the same as in the first trial.

The court also ordered Samsung Life Insurance to pay Lee and his children a total of 6 million won per month until June 2055. The total amount the insurer owes them is about 3.1 billion won.

Lee was driving a van near Cheonan IC on the Gyeongbu Expressway in August 2014 when he struck a cargo vehicle parked on the shoulder of the road. The accident killed his Cambodian wife, B, 24, who was seven months pregnant and a passenger.

After the accident, prosecutors charged Mr. Lee with murder and insurance claim fraud, citing his purchase of 25 insurance policies between 2008 and 2014 that listed his wife as the insured and himself as the beneficiary.

The total amount of insurance Lee had purchased was 9.5 billion won ($9.5 million) in principal alone, and more than 10 billion won in delayed interest.

However, the court acquitted him of murder, fraud, and other charges, saying that “the period of the crime was not clear.” However, the court found him guilty of manslaughter under the Special Traffic Accident Act and sentenced him to two years in prison.

Lee also filed civil lawsuits against other insurers besides Samsung Life Insurance, and while the first court rulings were mixed, the case against the Saemaul Savings & Loan Association was decided in April by the Supreme Court in favor of the plaintiffs.

This is the first case in which Mr. Lee’s insurance claim has been finalized, raising the prospect that the case against the insurer that Mr. A lost may also be overturned by a higher court in the future.