I Became a Law School Genius

Chapter 20

『 Translator – Divinity 』

“…Why me?”

“Didn’t you hear? He said it’s not a problem for an ordinary student. Then, he has to ask a student who’s ‘not ordinary’.”

Choi Sung-chul blatantly shrugged.

“I remember you from your undergraduate days, Mr. Park Yoo-seung. I can’t forget it. You were dead drunk from the first class and sprawled out sleeping in the back row of the lecture hall, you wrecked my car. You were the worst kind of delinquent.”

“…”

“And that you, not only got accepted to our Hankuk University Law School, but also surpassed other outstanding students and achieved the fifth rank?”

“It doesn’t make sense, logically.” Choi Sung-chul added.

“For it to make sense, you have to be a genius who can defy common sense. Of course, I think that’s possible. After all, you’re the nephew of Dean Kang, who is even called a pillar of Korean law.”

Choi Sung-chul specifically mentioned the blood relation between me and Kang Chang-soo.

Along with the assertion that my grades were nonsensical.

“I want to see this genius’s skills firsthand.”

His intention was, of course, as clear as day.

‘…This guy.’

Choi Sung-chul was clearly planning to put me in a difficult situation with a case that couldn’t be solved at the student level, a case that even Shin Seo-joon, the top student, acknowledged as such, and embarrass me.

And then, he would raise questions about my grades and use that as leverage to try and shake Dean Kang Chang-soo.

“Did you hear that just now?”

“Park Yoo-seung is the Dean’s nephew? Then, could it be…?”

Indeed, the seeds of doubt that Choi Sung-chul had sown were already sprouting within the students’ murmurs.

Of course, he was dead wrong.

Kang Chang-soo, far from helping me, had only seen me as a nuisance, and the scores were rightfully earned by me, who possessed the body of the real Park Yoo-seung, through my own hard work.

And more than anything,

“Alright.”

For me, this case wasn’t unsolvable.

“I’ll give it a shot.”

“W-what…?”

As I headed towards the receiver without any hesitation, a look of bewilderment flashed across Choi Sung-chul’s face.

“Ah, Mr. Oh Gi-tae. Can you hear me?”

—Ah, yes, yes.

“I’ve organized and reviewed what you’ve told me so far.”

—Yes.

“From what I’ve heard so far, it seems difficult to legally attack the nursing home.”

—N-no way…

“There are two main points that can be argued in this case from a civil perspective.”

One, a claim for damages based on the nursing home’s violation of their ‘duty of care’ to look after and maintain the health of Oh Gi-tae’s father, in relation to the accident he suffered.

Two, a claim for damages for medical malpractice, based on the fact that the misdiagnosis of his father’s injury at the nursing home’s orthopedic clinic led to serious complications.

‘The legal basis for both is Article 750 of the Civil Act, but there’s no need to explain that here.’

This wasn’t about writing an answer on an exam paper.

What I had to do now was provide an explanation and a course of action that the client, who knew nothing about law, could understand.

It was enough to properly write the legal principles in the opinion letter later.

“Both are difficult. First of all, since a nursing home isn’t a real hospital or medical institution, they’re not held to the same high standards of duty. As long as they have proper safety equipment and the number of caregivers in accordance with relevant laws, it’s rare for negligence to be recognized.”

—Then what about medical malpractice?

“That’s also difficult. Although you can argue misdiagnosis since there was a discrepancy with the university hospital’s diagnosis, not all misdiagnoses are considered malpractice.”

I gave him an easy-to-understand example.

“Have you ever seen a news article like this? There was a case where a doctor misdiagnosed an X-ray image, and the patient, who received the wrong treatment, was transferred to another hospital and died of complications six months later. It seems like the doctor’s fault no matter how you look at it, but even in this case, the Supreme Court denied medical malpractice.”

—That’s absurd.

“…How does he know that precedent?”

Someone blurted out.

How do I know?

Because I’m a transmigrator!

This was an incident that happened back in 1986.

Naturally, even when I was studying for the bar exam, it was a precedent that I would have come across at least once in the ‘Proof of Special Tort Liability’ section.

Although it’s sometimes omitted from recent textbooks because it’s an old precedent, when this episode was being serialized in the original story, I remembered and looked up this precedent.

I even posted a link in the comments and got the best comment. I remember feeling proud when people praised me with replies like, “This person seems to know law well.”

Since this precedent was actually mentioned in the following serialized parts, it was impossible to forget.

“Of course, we still have to make the argument, so please find and keep the X-ray images, medical certificates, and doctor’s notes from that time. Along with the diagnosis you received from the university hospital.”

However, the chances of that working are low.

Doctors have a sacred profession that deals with life, and they bear a heavy burden accordingly.

Therefore, courts tend to be very cautious in judging their right and wrong.

‘Unless it’s a case where a doctor misdiagnoses something that any doctor, naturally, 100 out of 100, could diagnose correctly… it’s difficult to have medical malpractice recognized.’

Anyway, for that reason, it was not easy to hold them liable under civil law.

—Then, is criminal punishment possible?

“Unfortunately, that’s even more difficult.”

There is a fundamental principle in criminal trials: ‘in dubio pro reo’ (when in doubt, for the accused).

Ultimately, criminal proceedings are a process where the state takes action to brand one of its citizens as a criminal and forcibly impose certain disadvantages on them.

In a modern liberal democracy, this must be done with the utmost caution, and no one should be wrongly convicted.

Therefore, all legal principles in criminal law are fundamentally interpreted and applied in favor of the defendant.

For this reason, it is much more difficult to have the defendant’s ‘negligence’ recognized in a criminal trial than in a civil trial, even for the same incident.

—That’s absurd. My father is in this state, and you’re saying there’s nothing I can do!

The client, Oh Gi-tae, was indignant, but what could I do when the judicial system was structured that way?

The students listening also seemed to agree.

“What can we do if the precedents are like that?”

“The concept of tort liability itself is familiar, but… the standards for negligence and proof are too demanding.”

“Still, he did a good job of combining familiar legal principles with unfamiliar precedents. I couldn’t even grasp it, so it’s impressive that he reached the conclusion that it wouldn’t work.”

It seemed that their suspicions about me had subsided a bit.

Exam questions or presentation topics could be leaked in advance, but how could I know the content of a consultation call that came in on the day itself?

But this wasn’t enough.

With the lump of Choi Sung-chul attached to me, I needed to clear things up to prevent any further unnecessary noise.

—But, what you wanted to confirm…

It was time to deliver the final blow.

“There’s one thing that seems unnatural.”

—Yes? W-what do you mean?

“In the first place, why did Mr. Oh Gi-tae’s father suddenly have an accident?”

—…Excuse me?

“From what you’ve said, although your father had recent surgeries, he was in a state where he could move around on his own with a walker. It’s hard to believe that he would immediately fall and have an accident just because there was no caregiver.”

—Wouldn’t it be because it was dark at night, or the floor was slippery, or something like that? Ah, then how about arguing that the nursing home had insufficient safety measures…?

“No, I don’t think that’s it.”

I cut off Mr. Oh Gi-tae and took out my laptop from my bag.

I searched for the name of the nursing home that the client mentioned in the web browser.

Soon, the nursing home’s website appeared on the screen.

“This nursing home advertises on its website with the phrase, ‘Our facility strictly complies with the facility standards and staffing standards for elderly medical welfare facilities under the Enforcement Rules of the Elderly Welfare Act.'”

This time, I searched for the ‘facility standards and staffing standards for elderly medical welfare facilities’.

A table with a considerable amount of information appeared, but the only things I needed right now were:

Install night lights in the hallway.

Install ramps on the stairs.

The floor should be made of a soft, non-slip material.

There should be at least one caregiver for every 2.3 residents.

“Looking at the facility photos and staff employment status posted on the website, it seems like they are indeed complying with these standards. It doesn’t make sense that it was dark because there are night lights, and although I can’t confirm whether the floor is non-slip just by looking at the photos… it’s ridiculous to assume that they would use a different material for the floor while complying with all other regulations.”

—Then, why did my father…?

“If there’s a problem, it’s likely with the walker itself. Try to recall carefully. Did your father say anything particular about his nursing home life recently?”

Then I subtly added,

“For example, did he have a fight with someone, or any conflict…?”

—Ah, oh!

Mr. Oh Gi-tae let out a surprised yelp as if struck by lightning.

—Now that I think about it, there was! About 2 or 3 days before the accident, he said there was a rude caregiver he kept clashing with…

“That’s important testimony. Ask your father for that person’s name, contact them, and try to hear their side of the story. Also, request the nursing home to check the condition of the walker and allow you to view the CCTV footage from the time of the accident.”

—I, I did request the CCTV footage once, but the nursing home said they couldn’t show it due to internal regulations.

“That’s illegal. According to Article 35 of the Personal Information Protection Act, the installer of CCTV cannot refuse a request to view the recorded footage. Request it again, and if they refuse again, record the conversation and submit it to the police.”

—…Thank you! Thank you! I think I see a way forward!

The client’s voice was filled with excitement at finding a new path.

He repeatedly thanked me, saying he hadn’t thought of that, and then hung up, saying he would ask his father and meet with that caregiver right away.

‘And that guy is actually the culprit.’

In the original story, the situation turned around when the caregiver, unable to bear the guilt, confessed the truth to the client’s side amidst a drawn-out legal battle.

He had developed a grudge after constantly arguing with Oh Gi-tae’s father.

So he deliberately replaced the wheels of the walker with broken ones.

He thought the old man would just fall on his butt, and he intended to laugh at him, but when the old man ended up getting seriously injured and needing major surgery, he didn’t know what to do.

I knew the whole story of this case from the beginning.

Talking about possibilities and facility standards was just to persuade the client.

If I could find the caregiver and get a confession, the issue in this case wouldn’t be the extremely tricky ‘proving the nursing home’s negligence’.

There was also the option of directly claiming damages from the caregiver himself, or using Article 756 of the Civil Act, which deals with employer liability, to extract money from the nursing home, his employer.

With the solid evidence of the caregiver’s confession, it wouldn’t be a difficult fight.

Since he was impulsive and weak-willed enough to confess out of guilt, I could get his testimony with a little pressure.

‘In the original story, because he confessed too late, the CCTV footage was gone, and the walker was thrown away, so they had a hard time finding evidence.’

But this time would be different.

Because I had advised them to secure the evidence quickly.

‘I knew about the CCTV and Personal Information Protection Act issue because the security guard at my company in my past life taught me about it.’

In short,

This case was solved.

“Now then,”

I finally looked up from the notepad.

“Do you have anything to say?”

My eyes met with Choi Sung-chul, who was staring at me with a dumbfounded expression, as if he had been struck.

“Uh, w-well…”

Choi Sung-chul, who had been stammering for a while, finally managed to utter a single sentence.

“W-well done…”

It was a declaration of complete defeat.