1. All of the plaintiffs' claims against the defendant are dismissed.

2. The costs of lawsuit are assessed against the plaintiffs.

1. The plaintiffs' assertion

A. Plaintiff A Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “Plaintiff A”) is a legal entity that engages in wholesale and retail business of Vppphers and industrial materials, and Plaintiff B and C is a person who jointly runs wholesale and retail business with the trade name of Plaintiff B and E.

B. Plaintiff A supplied the goods to Nonparty F from October 25, 2014 to January 31, 2015, and supplied the goods to Nonparty F, with the goods of KRW 23,890,545, Plaintiff B and C from July 25, 2014 to September 25, 2014, and did not receive the respective payments of KRW 24,231,073, out of the price.

C. Around January 2015, F operated “G” and transferred its business to the Defendant.

Therefore, the defendant is liable for the repayment of debts due to the business of F as a transferee of business which belongs to the trade name.

2. Determination

A. Consolidated business transfer under the Commercial Act refers to a business entity organized for a certain business purpose, that is, a business entity that maintains the identity of the human and material organization, and whether a business transfer has been made is not determined by which business property is transferred to any extent, but by which the organization can function as a whole or an important part of the business organization because it has been maintained in the past. Thus, even if a business facility was transferred without reservation of a part of the business property, it can be seen as a transfer of business if it is acknowledged in light of the social concept that the previous organization is maintained even if it was transferred with the business facility without reservation of a part of the business property.

such transfer of business is not necessarily required to be subject to an explicit contract between the parties to the transfer of business, and is also possible by an implied contract.

(See Supreme Court Decision 96Da2644 Decided June 24, 1997, and Supreme Court Decision 2007Da17123, 17130 Decided January 15, 2009). Meanwhile, Article 42(1) of the Commercial Act provides that a transferee of business who continues to use a trade name is liable to repay obligations arising from the transferor’s business.