Actor Kim Soo-hyun (38) won a final victory in a lawsuit over the return of an advertising contract fee with Swiss watch brand Mido. It is the first case among several advertising contract-related lawsuits filed against Kim Soo-hyun in which a ruling has been finalized.
According to legal sources, the 13th Civil Division of the Seoul Eastern District Court (presiding judge Choi Su-jin, Director General judge) on Aug. 27 fully rejected Mido's claim in a lawsuit seeking the return of the contract fee filed against Kim Soo-hyun's agency Gold Medalist and others.
Because Mido did not submit a notice of appeal by the appeal deadline on the 10th, the first-instance ruling was finalized as is.
Mido first signed an advertising model contract with Kim Soo-hyun in Dec. 2020 and renewed the contract every year. In 2024, it paid a 900 million won contract fee and extended the contract term by one year.
However, after a controversy over Kim Soo-hyun's private life arose, it terminated the contract in May last year and filed a lawsuit seeking the return of about 577 million won corresponding to the remaining term until the contract ended.
Mido reportedly argued that regardless of whether there was a direct reason attributable to Kim Soo-hyun, the controversy damaged the model's commercial value, establishing grounds for termination of the contract, and that the remaining portion of the contract fee should also be returned.
In contrast, Gold Medalist said the controversy was sparked by a third party's revelations and, because there was no reason attributable to Kim Soo-hyun, there was no obligation to return money following termination.
The court found that grounds for termination did not exist and did not accept Mido's claim.
After allegations emerged in Mar. last year that the late Kim Sae-ron had dated Kim Soo-hyun since she was a minor, Kim halted his projects and advertising activities and continued legal action.
The Seongdong Police Station in Seoul on July 29 did not refer Kim Soo-hyun's cases on alleged violations of the Child Welfare Act and false accusation due to insufficient evidence. Kim Se-eui, head of the Garosero Research Institute, who has been raising the allegations, was indicted and detained in June on charges including defamation under the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection.
After the private-life controversy, filming of the Disney+ series "Knock-Off," in which Kim Soo-hyun was slated to appear, was also halted. Advertisers including FromBio, as well as Cuckoo Electronics, Trend Maker, CLASSYS, and Eider, have filed damage or contract fee return lawsuits totaling around 10 billion won against Kim Soo-hyun's side.