Korea Structure and Public Facility Liability Damages Calculator

Separate private structure liability from public-facility liability, identify the responsible party, and total documented damages after comparative fault and confirmed same-loss payments.

1. Select the liability regime

Classify the facility by actual possession, installation, management, and public use.

2. Check the core liability facts

Keep an unresolved point as uncertain until records, inspection evidence, or management documents are available.

Is this a covered structure or planted tree?Confirm the legal character of the facility and who possessed, installed, or managed it.Was installation or preservation defective?Use photographs, inspection history, prior complaints, repair records, and safety measures.Did the defect cause the incident and loss?Connect the facility condition to the injury, property damage, and claimed financial loss.

Did the possessor exercise necessary preventive care?Liability generally starts with the possessor and shifts to the owner if necessary care is proved.A contractor or manager may be separately responsibleThis flags a recourse issue and does not reduce claimant damage automatically.

3. Enter documented damage

Do not duplicate repair value and exchange value, and enter future loss only as an adjusted present value.

Positive damage

Incurred medical and care expenseTreatment invoices and receipts tied to the incidentKRWFuture treatment and care, present valueUse an expert-calculated present value after intermediate-interest adjustmentKRWProperty damageReasonable repair cost or incident-date exchange value, without duplicationKRWFuneral expenseDocumented funeral loss for a death caseKRWOther ordinary damageDocumented loss with adequate causation, such as emergency transportKRW

Lost income

Temporary income lossActual lost income during treatment or repairKRWFuture income loss, present valueUse a value reflecting disability, working life, and intermediate interestKRW

Non-pecuniary damage

Non-pecuniary damage amountA case-specific amount for review, not an automatic precedent averageKRW

Victim comparative faultA review scenario between 0 and 100 percent, not a court finding%Confirmed same-loss paymentsEnter only payments confirmed to be deductible for the same lossKRW

Estimated claim after fault and confirmed payment deduction

₩19,000,000

This amount does not decide facility defect, causation, fault, non-pecuniary damages, or collateral-benefit treatment.

Gross damage: ₩19,000,000
Fault deduction: -₩0
After fault: ₩19,000,000
Payment deduction: -₩0

Liability check: Core inputs support a possible claim

Parties to review

Possessor of the private structure

Damage breakdown

Positive damage: ₩13,000,000
Lost income: ₩3,000,000
Non-pecuniary damage: ₩3,000,000
Gross damage: ₩19,000,000

Future income, treatment, and care must already be discounted to present value. The Korean State Compensation Act Enforcement Decree uses the Hoffmann method for relevant lump-sum future losses.

This is a Korea-based 2026 planning estimate, not legal advice. Obtain case-specific review of defect, causation, comparative fault, limitation periods, payment deduction, and the correct defendant.

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What this Korea liability calculator does

A falling wall panel, unsafe stair, broken sign, defective pipe, elevator, or planted tree on privately occupied property can raise structure liability under Korean Civil Act Article 758.
A pothole, river facility, drainage channel, public park installation, or public building can raise public-facility liability under State Compensation Act Article 5.
This tool separates those legal routes, checks facility status, defect, and causation, identifies parties to review, and totals documented damage after comparative fault and confirmed same-loss payments.

Korea-based 2026 legal estimate

The calculator uses Korean statutes verified through the National Law Information OPEN API on July 20, 2026.
It does not invent a success probability or a standard judicial recognition rate because defect, causation, fault, non-pecuniary damage, limitation, and benefit deduction depend on case evidence.

Private structure versus public facility

Comparison of Korean private structure and public facility liability
Route	Typical property	Parties to review	Legal basis
Private structure or tree	Building, stair, wall, sign, pipe, elevator, planted tree	Possessor first; owner if possessor proves necessary care	Civil Act Art. 758
Public facility	Road, river, park, drainage facility, public building	State or local government; sometimes a separate cost bearer	State Compensation Act Arts. 5 and 6

The name or location of a facility does not settle the classification.
A facility open to the public may still be privately possessed, while a privately operated facility can remain a public facility depending on public use, installation, management, delegation, and cost-bearing arrangements.
Review title records, leases, management agreements, facility registers, road records, ordinances, and budget responsibility before choosing a defendant.

The three common liability gateways

1. Covered facility

A private case needs a qualifying structure or planted tree.
A public case needs a road, river, or another facility provided for public use and installed or managed within the state or local-government structure.

2. Installation or management defect

Broken parts, missing guards or warnings, inadequate drainage, delayed inspection, or deficient repair can be relevant.
Incident photographs, earlier complaints, inspection records, and pre-repair video usually matter more than a broad allegation.

3. Causation

The defect must be connected to the incident and each claimed loss.
Weather, third-party action, claimant conduct, unrelated illness, or pre-existing property damage can affect liability or comparative fault.

The yes, uncertain, and no states organize proof without forcing an unresolved fact into a false answer.
Any no answer produces a current-input result of unlikely, while an unresolved gateway produces uncertain.
A likely result means only that the selected core facts are consistent with a possible claim; it is not a court prediction.

Who may bear responsibility

Private structure: possessor first

Civil Act Article 758 places initial responsibility on the person possessing the structure when an installation or preservation defect causes damage.
Possession is a factual control and management question, so a tenant, business operator, owner, or management entity can require separate analysis.

Owner if the possessor proves necessary care

If the possessor proves that necessary care to prevent the damage was not neglected, Article 758 shifts responsibility to the owner.
When that care issue is unresolved, the calculator keeps both possessor and owner visible for case-specific pleading review.

Public facility: government and cost bearer

State Compensation Act Article 5 makes the state or local government responsible for damage caused by a defect in installation or management of a public facility.
State Compensation Act Article 6 can also make a separate installation or management cost bearer responsible when the managing entity and cost-bearing entity differ.

Contractor or manager recourse

Civil Act Article 758(3) and State Compensation Act Article 5(2) preserve recourse against a person responsible for the cause.
That internal allocation does not automatically reduce claimant damage, so the calculator flags it separately rather than applying a deduction.

Damage categories and formula

State Compensation Act Article 3, incorporated into public-facility claims by Article 5, identifies death loss, funeral expense, medical care, temporary income loss, disability loss, property exchange value or repair cost, repair-period income loss, other causally related loss, and non-pecuniary damage.
Civil Act Articles 393 and 763 similarly distinguish ordinary loss and specially foreseeable loss, while Articles 396 and 763 support comparative-fault consideration.

Calculation sequence

Positive damage = incurred medical care + future medical or care present value + property damage + funeral expense + other ordinary damage
Lost income = temporary income loss + future income loss present value
Gross damage = positive damage + lost income + non-pecuniary damage
Fault deduction = gross damage × victim fault rate, rounded to KRW 1
Estimated claim = gross damage − fault deduction − confirmed same-loss payment deduction, never below zero

Evidence and duplication rules for each damage input
Damage input	Evidence	Key caution	Group
Medical and care expense	Invoices, receipts, diagnosis, care opinion	Include necessary incident-related expense only	Positive
Property damage	Repair quote, appraisal, incident-date value	Do not add repair cost and full exchange value twice	Positive
Temporary income loss	Payroll, tax income, closure period	Prove actual income loss, not gross sales alone	Lost income
Future loss	Medical opinion, disability, working-life evidence	Enter present value after intermediate-interest adjustment	Positive or income
Non-pecuniary damage	Injury severity, aftereffects, mental harm records	No automatic precedent average is supplied	Mental

Worked example

Falling exterior material from a commercial building

KRW 5,000,000 incurred medical expense
KRW 2,000,000 future treatment present value
KRW 8,000,000 property damage and KRW 1,000,000 other ordinary damage
KRW 3,000,000 temporary income loss and KRW 4,000,000 future income loss present value
KRW 5,000,000 non-pecuniary damage review amount

Positive damage is KRW 16,000,000, lost income is KRW 7,000,000, and non-pecuniary damage is KRW 5,000,000, producing KRW 28,000,000 gross damage.
A 20% victim-fault scenario deducts KRW 5,600,000 and leaves KRW 22,400,000.
If KRW 2,400,000 is confirmed as a deductible same-loss payment, the estimated claim becomes KRW 20,000,000.

The example illustrates arithmetic, not a prescribed Korean award.
Replace every amount and the fault rate with evidence-based case assumptions, and compare more than one fault scenario when the parties disagree.

How to use the calculator

Select private or public. Use actual possession, installation, management, public use, and cost responsibility rather than the site name alone.
Record the three gateways. Mark facility status, defect, and causation as yes, uncertain, or no according to current proof.
Identify the party route. For private property, assess possessor care. For a public facility, check whether the management and cost-bearing entities differ.
Enter damage once. Separate positive damage, lost income, and non-pecuniary damage without duplicating repair and replacement value.
Apply review scenarios. Compare victim-fault assumptions and enter only same-loss payments confirmed as deductible.
Use the result as an evidence checklist. Take the party list, unresolved issues, and damage breakdown to a Korean lawyer or the responsible compensation body.

Evidence to preserve immediately

Facility and management proof

Wide and close photographs or video before repair
Warning, lighting, guard, drainage, weather, and time conditions
Incident report number and agency or management-office response
Prior complaint, inspection, repair, and maintenance records
Title, lease, delegation, facility-register, and cost-bearing documents

Damage and causation proof

Diagnosis, medical records, invoices, and pharmacy receipts
Repair quote, appraisal, and incident-date property value
Payroll, tax income, and closure or absence records
Witness contacts, CCTV, dashcam file, and accident report
Insurance or support payment statement and subrogation terms

Record the condition before repair

A manager may repair a dangerous condition immediately, which can remove the central physical evidence.
Without interfering with safety work, preserve an identifiable wide view, a scaled close view, the travel path, warning measures, and original file metadata.

Future loss and same-loss payments

Use present value for future loss

State Compensation Act Article 3-2 requires intermediate-interest deduction when qualifying disability compensation, survivor compensation, or future care is claimed as a lump sum.
Enforcement Decree Article 6(3), effective July 1, 2026, identifies the statutory-interest simple-discount Hoffmann method.
The calculator therefore asks for an already adjusted present value rather than guessing disability, life expectancy, working life, or the applicable annex value.

Do not deduct every insurance payment

State Compensation Act Article 3-2 addresses a benefit obtained at the same time as the loss, but the treatment of insurance and public benefits depends on purpose, subrogation, statute, and overlap.
Enter only a payment confirmed to compensate the same damage and to be deductible in the case.

Limitation warning

Civil Act Article 766 states a three-year period from the date the victim or legal representative learns of both the damage and the tortfeasor, and a ten-year period from the tortious act.
A public-facility claim can also engage the five-year money-claim provisions in National Finance Act Article 96 or Local Finance Act Article 82 through State Compensation Act Article 8 and other-law rules.
Accrual, knowledge, interruption, suspension, acknowledgment, and the interaction of those provisions are fact-specific, so this calculator does not produce an automatic deadline.

Work from the earliest plausible deadline

An agency complaint or insurance discussion does not necessarily preserve a civil claim.
Record the incident date, discovery date, date the responsible party became known, demand date, and any acknowledgment, then obtain Korean legal review promptly.

Frequently asked questions

Should a claimant always sue the building owner?

No.
Civil Act Article 758 generally begins with the possessor and shifts to the owner if the possessor proves necessary preventive care.
Review actual control, repair authority, lease terms, title, and management agreements before choosing parties.

Does every pothole accident create state compensation liability?

No.
Road responsibility, defect duration and severity, inspection and repair opportunity, visibility, weather, driving conduct, and causation remain important.
Preserve location data, road photographs, dashcam video, report history, and repair records.

Can future earnings be monthly income multiplied by all remaining months?

That approach can materially overstate loss.
Disability, working life, personal consumption where relevant, and intermediate interest may need adjustment.
Enter an expert-calculated present value instead of gross future salary.

Should medical expense and insurance proceeds both be entered?

Enter the medical expense in gross damage.
Enter only the portion of an insurance or support payment confirmed to be deductible for that same loss in the payment field.
Policy purpose, statutory coordination, and insurer subrogation require separate review.

Does this amount include court cost or attorney fees?

No.
This page calculates the documented damage assumption and identifies liability parties.
Filing fees, service costs, attorney engagement fees, the State Compensation Deliberation Council route, and enforcement cost require separate planning.

Official Korean sources and effective dates

National Law Information OPEN API verification

Civil Act Article 758: Law ID 001706, MST 284415, effective March 17, 2026
State Compensation Act Article 5: Law ID 001242, MST 268079, effective January 7, 2025
State Compensation Act Enforcement Decree: Law ID 002655, MST 287081, effective July 1, 2026
National Finance Act Article 96: five-year rule for qualifying monetary rights against the state, current act effective June 2, 2026
Local Finance Act Article 82: five-year rule for qualifying monetary rights against a local government, current act effective July 1, 2026

Recheck amendments, decree annexes, public case law, wage material, limitation rules, and benefit-coordination rules before relying on this guide for a live claim.
The source dates make later legal maintenance traceable and do not turn the page into case-specific legal advice.

Organize the party, proof, and damage trail

Use the calculator to structure the Korean legal route, unresolved evidence, responsible-party candidates, and fault-adjusted damage before contacting a lawyer or compensation body.
Treat the result as a preparation tool and preserve original facility, medical, income, repair, and payment records.