“Give Back My Jeonse Deposit” Lawsuits Resolved in Two Months... Livelihood Case Processing Speeds Up

132 Days Shorter Than the Single-Judge Civil Division Average

The dedicated court divisions for civil livelihood cases, introduced this year, have been found to process cases such as jeonse fraud, personal bankruptcy, and lease disputes in an average of three months. This is 132 days faster on average than regular civil court divisions.

On August 7, the National Court Administration announced the results of the pilot launch and operation of the Specialized Divisions for Expeditious Processing of Livelihood-Related Cases. These divisions exclusively handle life-related cases such as lease deposits, jeonse fraud, building delivery, and payment for goods. The National Court Administration has been operating these pilot divisions since February this year at four branches of the Seoul Central District Court and one branch of the Changwon District Court.

According to the National Court Administration's analysis of the four-month period from March 1 to June 30, 2026, the average time taken by these specialized divisions to process a case was 91 days. This is a reduction of 132 days compared to the national average for single-judge civil divisions at district courts, which is 223 days. The period from case filing to the first oral argument was also shortened to 87 days for these divisions, which is 52 days less than the national average of 139 days.

Furthermore, the substantive settlement rate for these specialized divisions stood at 42.2%, which is 16.4 percentage points higher than the national district court single-judge average of 25.8%. The actual appeal rate was only 12.3%, about half the national average of 23.1%. This indicates that more parties are accepting the outcomes of these divisions, with disputes being resolved at the first instance without proceeding to appellate courts.

According to a survey conducted by Seoul Central District Court on 180 parties and attorneys involved in livelihood-related cases between June and July 2026, 77% of respondents answered that the new divisions "help the prompt protection of citizens' rights." The National Court Administration stated, "We will analyze the results of the pilot divisions, share the findings with courts nationwide, and support other courts to consider introducing similar expedited divisions for livelihood-related cases."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.