공익소송에서 소송비용 패소자부담 원칙의 개선에 관한 소고

In principle, the Civil Procedure Act requires the losing party to bear the litigation costs, but the Civil Procedure Act and the rules on the inclusion of litigation costs for attorney fees make exceptions to the loser-pays rule. Applying the loser-pays rule in the public litigation can excessively limit the right to trial of the socially disadvantaged. Furthermore, it could cause problems such as weakening the function of public debate and social ventilation of related issues, improving legislation, realizing rights and interests, and shrinking public interest activities. In addition, the loser-pays rule is likely to violate the principle of equality in the case of public interest litigations. Of course, there are exceptions to the loser-pays rule, but it is not easy to alleviate the litigation cost burden of the losing party in the public interest litigation because there are no exceptions that take into account the public interest of litigation. Accordingly, the loser-pays rule is still a factor that puts an excessive burden on the party who would like to file a public interest lawsuit. In order to improve this situation, it is necessary to specify the definition of public interest litigation in the law or the categories and requirements of public interest litigation and to reduce and exempt the litigation cost of the losing party. In addition, it is essential to specify the type of litigation as a professional litigation such as medical treatment, industrial accident, environment, consumer’s right with difficulty in proving damage to alleviate the ambiguity of regulations.