ENTERTAINMENT
HYBE and Min Hee-jin Head to Second Hearing in Shareholder Agreement Termination Lawsuit
On the 17th, the Seoul Central District Court's Civil Division 50 (Chief Judge Kim Sang-hoon) will hold the second hearing for the lawsuit filed by HYBE against Min Hee-jin regarding the termination of their shareholder agreement.
Following NewJeans' recent loss in the injunction case related to their exclusive contract termination with ADOR, there is keen interest in whether this ruling will influence Min's shareholder agreement termination lawsuit.
Legal experts suggest that although the two lawsuits involve different parties, the core arguments are essentially the same, indicating that the injunction ruling could have a direct or indirect impact on the shareholder agreement lawsuit.
An anonymous lawyer commented, "The main issues in the NewJeans injunction case and Min Hee-jin's shareholder agreement termination lawsuit largely overlap. Given that the court dismissed all of Min's claims at the injunction stage, this decision could influence the main lawsuit."
Previously, on the 21st of last month, the Seoul Central District Court's Civil Division 50 (Chief Judge Kim Sang-hoon) ruled in favor of ADOR in the 'agency status preservation and advertisement contract prohibition' injunction against NewJeans members. The five members of NewJeans immediately filed an objection to the court's decision, which was dismissed on the 16th. They have since filed an appeal.
In the injunction, the court did not recognize any of the 11 reasons NewJeans cited for contract termination. These included allegations of HYBE's album pushing, plagiarism issues with I-LIT, unfair shareholder agreements, interference in NewJeans' debut promotion, involvement in advertising agency tasks, PR reduction, and biased review sharing, none of which were accepted by the court.
The court ruled that the plagiarism allegations regarding I-LIT did not constitute a replication of NewJeans' concept, and the album pushing claims were dismissed as there was no definitive evidence of such practices despite negative public opinion.
Regarding claims that HYBE's PR actions diminished NewJeans' achievements, the court found that it was merely a correction of facts without any intent to belittle or insult. The internal HYBE report's phrase "abandon the old and start anew" was interpreted as part of a discussion on successful strategies for LE SSERAFIM.
Meanwhile, former ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin has remained absent from public appearances and has not updated her social media in the past month.
Choi Ji-ye, TenAsia Reporter wisdomart@tenasia.co.kr
