The group NewJeans suffered a complete defeat in the exclusive contract lawsuit with ADOR.
On the 30th, the Seoul Central District Court Civil Division 41 (Chief Judge Jeong Hoe-il) ruled in favor of the plaintiff in ADOR's lawsuit seeking confirmation of the validity of the exclusive contract against the five members of NewJeans.
The court judged that "dismissing former CEO Min Hee-jin from ADOR did not create a management vacuum for NewJeans, and it is difficult to view ADOR as lacking a plan or ability to perform its duties," and concluded that this could not be seen as grounds for terminating the exclusive contract.
The court also found that the members' claim of a breakdown in trust was "difficult to view as mutual distrust between contracting parties," and noted that HYBE's audit and dismissal process against former CEO Min was justified, and criticized that she had planned to look for investors to acquire ADOR and to create public opinion that HYBE treated NewJeans unfairly in an effort to make ADOR, including NewJeans, independent from HYBE.
In addition, the court did not recognize any of the claims NewJeans made, including ▲a producing gap caused by the dismissal of former CEO Min ▲leakage of NewJeans trainee videos ▲comments by HYBE's public relations officer belittling NewJeans' achievements ▲ILLIT of Belift Lab Inc. infringing on and attempting to replace NewJeans' uniqueness ▲the claim that Hanni was told by a manager at another label to "ignore her" ▲impossibility of collaboration due to the dispute with Dolphiners Film ▲downgrading of NewJeans' achievements due to HYBE's practice of pushing records ▲and the preparation of a music industry report saying "abandon New(Jeans) and reorganize," among others.
Although NewJeans was completely defeated by ADOR in this way, they immediately expressed their intention to appeal and maintained that they would not return to ADOR. The legal representatives of the NewJeans members, the law firm Sejong, said, "The members respect the court's judgment, but in the current situation where the trust relationship with ADOR has already completely broken down, returning to ADOR and continuing normal entertainment activities is impossible."
They added, "The members will immediately appeal the first-instance judgment and hope that the appellate court will once again comprehensively review the factual background and the legal principles regarding the termination of the exclusive contract and render a wise judgment."
On the other hand, ADOR said, "We sincerely hope that the long period during which various claims and facts were examined, and today's result in which a judgment with the same intent was handed down once again, will serve as an opportunity for the artists to calmly reflect on this matter," and emphasized, "We too will once again engrave the role and duty required of a management company under an exclusive contract. As we stated during the main trial, we have completed preparations for activities such as the release of a full-length album and are waiting. We will do our best to return to fans through discussions with the artists."
Meanwhile, NewJeans declared termination of the contract last November at a press conference, alleging that ADOR had violated its obligations under the exclusive contract, and thereafter essentially suspended activities after only fulfilling scheduled appearances. The five members later announced independent steps under the new team name NJZ, but the court accepted ADOR's injunction request and stopped them.
The court ruled that "the members cannot engage in entertainment activities without ADOR's prior approval," and ordered an indirect fine of 1 billion won per violation if NewJeans violated this. With the members' objection and immediate appeal both dismissed, independent activities by NewJeans became difficult until the main lawsuit is concluded.
[Photo] OSEN DB
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