While returning home from the reading room on the day of the incident, the client was hit in the head by the upperclassman and collapsed and was taken to an ambulance. In response, the client filed a criminal complaint for personal injury and simultaneously proceeded with an abuse proceeding against the upperclassman through our firm. At first, the upperclassman apologized and expressed his desire to settle the case amicably, but after learning of the abuse complaint, the other party also hired a lawyer and filed a bilateral school violenceto file a bilateral school violence report.
Although our client has been the victim of threats and injuries from the other student since middle school, the other student suddenly claimed that they were both victims of bullying, insults, and defamation, and falsely claimed that she was also the victim of physical, verbal, and cyber violence, and that she suffered more harm than what she reported.
The client was a high school student with excellent grades and dreamed of attending a prestigious university, so he was very worried that if the incident reported by the upperclassman was recognized as an assault, it would be recorded on his academic record and put him at a disadvantage in the admissions process. The client came to Ongang Law Firm to help him get out of the unfair situation.
Case Issues
This was a situation where it was important to establish that we were the victim and not the perpetrator, as school violence cases are often characterized as both parties being at fault, even if there is no evidence to support this claim.
Troubleshooting
Our lawyers at Ongang Law Firm submitted a defense brief to the school board's school violence review committee in advance, which emphasized that we were victims as a matter of law, along with evidence in our favor, and thoroughly debunked the allegations made by the perpetrator.
In addition, it is very important for the client to speak well in front of the committee, so we met with our client before the committee was held and coached her on how to speak in front of the committee, including a detailed testimony coach.
On the day of the Education Support Agency's School Violence Countermeasures Review Committee, a lawyer from our firm appeared with our client, emphasizing that "we are victims, not perpetrators," and orally explained the important issues of the pre-submitted amicus brief.
As a result, even though it was a bilaterally reported abuse case, our client received a No Action was issued, and the school violence was only recognized for the undergraduate studentand we were clearly identified as the victim.
