일실 퇴직연금 상당의 손해배상채권에서 직무상유족연금을 공제하는 순서와 그 인적 범위

The gist of the subject case pertains to the order of deducting pension benefits for the surviving family of an employee who died while performing official duties from a damages claim equivalent to the amount of lost retirement pension and the scope of the persons affected thereby in a case where surviving family members of a school teacher and/or staff who died from occupational disasters caused by another person’s tort inherit a damages claim in the amount of the deceased’s lost retirement pension or lost lump-sum allowance for retirement (hereinafter referred to for convenience “retirement pension”), while only some of inheritors or those who are not legitimate heirs receive survivors’ pension, upon the death of an employee while on official duty, from the Korea Teachers Pension. In a case regarding the deduction of the survivors’ pension benefits from a damages claim corresponding to the amount of lost retirement pension under the Public Officials Pension Act, the previously rendered Supreme Court Decision 93Da57346 decided May 10, 1994 held that “the inheritors jointly inherit the amount remaining after deducting the survivors’ pension amount from the lost retirement pension benefits in accordance with what is prescribed under the Civil Act,” thereby adopting the method of “inheritance after deduction” as regards the order of deduction and the scope of the persons affected thereby. There are two contrary views with respect to the above case: ① a damages claim equivalent to the amount of the deceased’s lost retirement pension is passed to the inheritors, and the survivors’ pension is deducted only from the damages claim of the inheritor entitled to the survivors’ pension (“deduction after inheritance” method); and ② the amount remaining after deducting the survivors’ pension from the damages claim equivalent to the deceased’s lost retirement pension is inherited by the inheritors (“inheritance after deduction” method). The subject case adopted the “deduction after inheritance” method in reversal from the previous Supreme Court precedent to extend the protection for the rights of inheritors of the deceased, who is the victim of a work-related death, and affirmed that the redundant acceptance of the survivors’ pension for the death of an employee n the course of official duties by the beneficiary of the survivors’ pension in excess of his or her share of the inheritance is still in alignment with the purpose and intention of the social security system, as the payment thereof is designed to guarantee livelihood security. Furthermore, the subject case changed the Supreme Court precedent on “the order of deducting pension benefits for the surviving family of an employee who died while performing official duties from the damages claim equivalent to the amount of lost retirement pension and the scope of the persons affected thereby” under the Public Officials Pension Act, the applicable law, which is applied by analogy in the Pension for Private School Teachers and Staff Act, and clarified its view on the interpretation and application of a law that is fundamentally and ultimately adopted for application, thereby promoting coherence of the legal order.