[Draft] Supreme Court Overturns 50% Cut in Real Estate Brokerage Fee – 'Reduction Without Rational Basis Is Impermissible'

A real estate brokerage corporation (plaintiff) sought payment of the agreed brokerage fee after handling property acquisitions for a local housing cooperative's apartment construction project. The lower court (Gwangju District Court) reduced the fee by 50% sua sponte, finding it contrary to good faith and equity principles. The Supreme Court held that since limiting a brokerage fee claim is an exception to freedom of contract, courts must clearly articulate rational grounds for such a reduction. Because the lower court reduced the fee based only on abstract circumstances without examining specific underlying facts, it misapplied the law, and the case was reversed and remanded.