Supreme Court rules deadline extension overrides weekend holiday rule

The Supreme Court ruled on April 10 that extending the deadline for submitting grounds of appeal renders the original period's end date legally insignificant, even if that date falls on a weekend or public holiday.

The decision clarifies that the Civil Act provision allowing deadlines to shift to the next business day does not apply when a court has granted a one-month extension under the Civil Procedure Act. The ruling stems from case 2025Ma9429, an objection to a dismissal order in an unjust enrichment dispute, where the court determined the original deadline becomes merely an intermediate point once an extension is granted.

Appellants who do not state their grounds in the initial filing must submit them within 40 days of receiving notice that the case record has been received by the appellate court. Courts may extend this period once by up to one month upon request, but failure to submit within the total allotted time results in dismissal under Article 402-3 of the Civil Procedure Act.

The court determined that such an extension creates a new terminal date based on the sum of the original 40 days and the granted extension. Consequently, whether the original 40-day mark lands on a Saturday or a national holiday no longer triggers the statutory rule that would otherwise push the deadline to the following weekday.