도산절차에서 우선순위 - 우선순위의 의미에 대한 새로운 해석 -

When the debtor has enough assets and is fully capable of performing all its obligations, the problem of priority among creditors does not attract much attention. However, when the debtor lacks sufficient resource, creditors are faced with the risk of losing the value of their claim depending on where they stand in line. Priority is the key in determining how creditors, employees, shareholders and government agencies will be able to satisfy their rights in the event the debtor becomes insolvent. In non-insolvency compulsory executions creditors against the same debtor are organized to create a single lined priority structure. The creditor standing before in line is entitled to satisfy its claim while junior creditors are restricted from the chance to satisfy their rights until their superiors have been paid in full. Discussions in the past on the issue of priority in insolvency proceedings premised a liner priority structure used to define priority in non-insolvency procedures. While this approach is valid with respect to bankruptcy proceedings which distributes the present value of the insolvent debtor, however, in order to adequately describe the priority structure that governs rehabilitation proceedings it is necessary to examine the classification of claims in a rehabilitation proceeding and how they are entitled to be paid in terms of time and amount. It is also necessary to determine how certain creditors enjoy priority in terms of the method by which it collects its debts. The analysis will reveal that insofar as the rehabilitation proceeding is concerned the order of common benefit claims, secured rehabilitation claims and rehabilitation claims depends on many variables.