株主의 間接損害에 대한 理事의 損害賠償責任

Korean Commercial Act § 401(1) stipulates that if directors have neglected to perform their duties wilfully or by gross negligence, they shall be jointly and severally liable for damages to third persons. A majority of scholars regard the aforementioned director's liability as the unique liability created by the above Act totally different from general tort liability. When directors issue stock with unfairly low issuance price for someone to gain a corporate control, the stockholders are sure to suffer such damages as fallen price and so forth. It matters whether the injured stockholders may hold the directors liable for their damages pursuant to the foregoing director's liability. The legal issues to be checked up here are whether the damage of the fallen price is an indirect damage, and whether the directors are still liable for the indirect damage to the inflicted stockholders as the third persons stipulated in § 401(1). There are conflicting opinions regarding the two legal issues, and when it comes to the second issue, the Korean Supreme Court takes the position of negating the director's liability for the indirect damage to the stockholders as the third persons. But since the fallen stock price is regarded as an indirect damage under the Korean Commercial Act, it is desirable that such an indirect damage is also recovered by the director's strict liability said hereinbefore. Accordingly, the Korean Commercial Act § 401(1) may function for the protection of the stockholder's interest as well as that of corporate creditor's.