"...Why me?"
"Didn't you hear? They said this wasn't a problem for an ordinary student. So, I have to ask an 'extraordinary' student."
Choi Seong-cheol shrugged his shoulders pointedly.
"I remember you from your undergraduate days, Park Yoo-seung. I could never forget. Showing up to the first class drunk and passed out in the back row of the classroom, wrecking my car... There was no Delinquent quite like you."
"..."
"And that same person not only got into our Korea University Law School but also beat out other excellent students to achieve the rank of 5th place?"
It doesn’t make sense, logically. Choi Seong-cheol added.
"For it to make sense, you would have to be a genius capable of shattering that logic. Of course, I think that's possible. After all, you're the Maternal Nephew of Director Kang, the man called a pillar of Korean legal studies, aren't you?"
Choi Seong-cheol pointedly mentioned my blood relation to Kang Chang-soo.
Along with the assertion that my grades were unbelievable.
"I'm saying let's see what that genius can do."
His intentions were, of course, painfully obvious.
'This bastard.'
Choi Seong-cheol clearly intended to push me into a case that was impossible for a student to solve—one that even the top student, Shin Seo-jun, had acknowledged as such—and humiliate me.
Then, he would raise questions about my grades and use that to try and shake Dean Kang Chang-soo.
"Did you just hear that?"
"Park Yoo-seung is the dean's nephew? Then maybe..."
Indeed, among the students' murmurs, the suspicion Choi Seong-cheol had planted was already starting to bloom.
Of course, he was completely and utterly wrong.
Far from helping me, Kang Chang-soo had always considered me a thorn in his side, and my scores were earned legitimately by me—the one who possessed the real Park Yoo-seung's body—through sheer hard work.
And above all.
"Very well."
For me, this case was not an unsolvable problem.
"What the hell, I'll give it a shot."
"Uh, uhh...?"
As I headed for the Telephone Receiver without a hint of hesitation, a look of bewilderment flashed across Choi Seong-cheol's face.
"Ah. Mr. Oh Ki-tae. Can you hear me?"
- Ah, yes, yes.
"First, I've organized and reviewed the details you've shared so far."
- Yes.
"With just this, it seems difficult to legally attack the Nursing Home."
- H-How can that be...
"In this case, there are broadly two points you could argue under Civil Law."
One: a Compensation Claim based on the fact that the Nursing Home violated its 'Duty of Care' to look after and maintain the health of Oh Ki-tae's father in relation to his accident.
Two: a Compensation Claim for Medical Negligence, on the grounds that the misdiagnosis of his father's injury at the Nursing Home's Orthopedics Department led to a more serious injury.
'The basis for both is Civil Code Article 750, but there's no need to explain that.'
This wasn't about writing an answer on an exam paper.
My job right now was to provide an explanation and a course of action that a layman, who knows nothing about the law, could understand.
The Legal Principles could be properly written down later in the Legal Opinion.
"Both are difficult. First, a Nursing Home is not a real hospital or medical institution, so it's not held to the same high standard of duty. As long as they've properly equipped safety facilities and have the number of caregivers required by relevant laws, negligence is rarely recognized."
- Th-then what about the Medical Negligence?
"That's also difficult. Since there was a discrepancy with the University Hospital's diagnosis, you can claim misdiagnosis, but not every misdiagnosis constitutes negligence."
I gave an example to make it easier to understand.
"Have you ever seen an article like this from a long time ago? There was a case where a doctor misdiagnosed a patient after looking at an X-ray, and the patient, after receiving the wrong treatment, was transferred elsewhere and died of complications six months later. It looked like the doctor's fault to anyone, but even then, the Supreme Court denied Medical Negligence."
- That's absurd.
"...How does he know a legal precedent like that?"
Someone blurted out.
How do I know?
Because I'm a transmigrator!
This was a case that happened way back in 1986.
Naturally, back when I was studying for the Judicial Examination, it was a legal precedent you'd review at least once in the 'Proof of Special Tort Liability' section.
It's an old precedent, so it's often omitted from modern textbooks, but when this episode was being serialized in the Original Work, I had searched for it by digging through my memories.
I even posted a link in the comments and got the top comment. I remember my shoulders puffing up with pride at the replies praising me, saying things like 'This person really knows the law'.
The precedent was even mentioned in the next installment, so it was impossible for me to forget.
"Of course, you'll still have to make the argument, so find and keep the X-ray images, diagnosis, and doctor's notes from that time. Along with the diagnosis you received from the University Hospital."
But the chances of it working are low.
Being a doctor is a sacred profession that deals with life, and they carry a correspondingly heavy burden.
Therefore, the Court tends to take a very cautious approach in judging the rightness or wrongness of their decisions.
'Unless it's a case where the problem was so clear that any doctor—all 100 out of 100—should have been able to diagnose it correctly... it's difficult to get Medical Negligence recognized.'
Anyway, for those reasons, holding them liable under Civil Law was not an easy task.
- Th-then, is criminal punishment possible?
"Unfortunately, that's even more difficult."
In a Criminal Trial, there is a fundamental principle: 'In Dubio Pro Reo' (when in doubt, for the accused).
Ultimately, the criminal process is one where the state steps in to brand a citizen as a criminal and forcibly imposes certain disadvantages.
In a modern free and democratic nation, this must be done with the utmost care, and not a single innocent person should be wrongly convicted.
That's why all Legal Principles in Criminal Law are fundamentally interpreted and applied in favor of the Defendant.
Therefore, for the same incident, it is much harder to have the defendant's 'negligence' recognized in a Criminal Trial than in a Civil Trial.
- That's ridiculous. My father ended up like this, and you're telling me there's nothing I can do!
The client, Mr. Oh Ki-tae, was indignant, but what could I do when the judicial order was structured that way?
The other students listening in also seemed to be more or less accepting of it.
"The Legal Precedents are what they are. What can you do?"
"Tort Liability itself is a familiar legal provision, but... the standards for negligence and the Burden of Proof are just too strict."
"Still, he did a good job connecting familiar Legal Principles with an unfamiliar legal precedent. I couldn't even get a grasp on it, so it's impressive that he was able to draw the conclusion that it wouldn't work."
In addition, the suspicions about me seemed to have subsided a little.
You couldn't rule out the possibility of exam questions or presentation topics being leaked in advance, but how could anyone possibly know the content of a consultation call that came in on the same day?
But this isn't enough.
As long as this lump named Choi Seong-cheol was attached to me, I needed to settle things decisively so that no more useless noise would be made.
- Um, but the thing you said you wanted to check...
It was time to land the finishing blow.
"There is one unnatural point."
- Yes? Wh-what are you talking about?
"In the first place, why did Mr. Oh Ki-tae's father have a sudden accident?"
- ...Pardon?
"From what you've said, your father recently had surgery, but he was in a state where he could move on his own without difficulty as long as he had a Walker. It's hard to imagine that he would immediately fall and have an accident just because a caregiver wasn't present."
- Maybe it's because it was dark at night, or the floor was slippery, or something like that? Aha. Then, could we argue that as a lack of safety measures on the Nursing Home's part...
"No, that's probably not it."
I cut Mr. Oh Ki-tae off and took my laptop out of my bag.
I searched the name of the Nursing Home the client had mentioned in my web browser.
The homepage of the Nursing Home in question soon filled the screen.
"This Nursing Home advertises on its homepage with the following phrase: 'This institution strictly complies with the Facility Standards and Staff Placement Standards for Elderly Medical Welfare Facilities as stipulated in the enforcement rules of the Elderly Welfare Act.'"
This time, I searched for 'Facility Standards and Staff Placement Standards for Elderly Medical Welfare Facilities.'
A considerable table appeared, but all I needed from it right now was this:
Install Night Lights in the hallways.
Install ramps on stairs.
Floors must be made of a soft, non-slip material.
There must be at least one Nursing Caregiver for every 2.3 residents.
"Looking at the facility photos and staff employment status posted on the homepage, it seems they are actually adhering to these standards well. They have Night Lights, so it being too dark doesn't make sense. And while the photos can't confirm if the floor is non-slip... the assumption that they'd comply with all other regulations but use the wrong material only for the floor is ridiculous."
- Th-then why did my father...
"If there was a problem, it's highly likely to be with the Walker itself, which you said slipped. Try to remember carefully. Was there anything special your father said recently about his life at the Nursing Home?"
Then I casually added.
"For example, fighting with someone, or having a conflict..."
- Ah, ahh!
Mr. Oh Ki-tae let out a sharp cry as if he'd been struck by lightning.
- C-come to think of it, there was! About two or three days before the accident, he said there was a rude bastard among the Nursing Caregivers, and that they were clashing and fighting over every little thing...
"That's an important testimony. Please ask your father for that person's name, and let's contact them to hear their side of the story. Additionally, request to check the condition of the Walker and to view the CCTV footage from the time of the accident from the Nursing Home."
- Th-the CCTV, I did request it once, but the Nursing Home said they couldn't show it to me because of internal regulations.
"That's illegal. According to Personal Information Protection Act Article 35, a CCTV installer cannot refuse a request from a person to view footage in which they are recorded. Request it again, and if they refuse again, record the call and submit it to the police station."
- ...Thank you! Thank you! I think I can see a way forward!
The client's voice, having found a new path, brightened.
He thanked me over and over, saying he never would have thought of it, then hung up, saying he would ask his father immediately and go meet that Nursing Caregiver bastard.
'And in reality, that bastard is the culprit.'
In the Original Work, the situation turned around when, in the midst of a tedious court battle, the Nursing Caregiver, unable to overcome his guilt, revealed the truth to the client's side.
The bastard held a grudge after arguing with Mr. Oh Ki-tae's father every day.
So he deliberately switched the Walker's wheels with broken ones.
He'd thought that at worst, the man would fall and land on his butt, and he planned to laugh at him, but when he was injured enough to need major surgery, he didn't know what to do.
I knew the full story of this case from the beginning.
All that talk about possibilities and Facility Standards was just to persuade the client.
If we find the Nursing Caregiver and get a Confession, the Key Issue of this case is no longer the incredibly tricky 'Burden of Proof for the Nursing Home's negligence.'
We can either file a Compensation Claim directly against the caregiver himself, or we can use the provision in Civil Code Article 756 regarding Employer Liability to get money from his employer, the Nursing Home.
With the solid Evidence of the caregiver's Confession, it won't be a difficult fight.
He's an impulsive and weak-willed person, enough to confess out of guilt, so we should be able to get a testimony with just a little pressure.
'In the Original Work, the guy spoke up too late, so the CCTV footage was gone and the Walker was thrown out, making it a pain to find evidence.'
But this time will be different.
Because I advised him on how to secure the Evidence quickly.
'I also knew about the CCTV and Personal Information Protection Act issue because a security guard at my company taught me about it in my Previous Life.'
In short.
It means one case solved.
"Well, then."
I finally lifted my gaze from my notepad and raised my head.
"Is there something you'd like to say?"
Just then, my eyes met with Choi Seong-cheol, who was staring at me with an expression like he'd just been punched.
"Uh, th-that, uhh..."
After stammering out dazed sounds for a while, Choi Seong-cheol finally managed to spit out a word.
"O-outstanding..."
It was a declaration of complete defeat.