Actor Kim Soo-hyun has won the final victory in a lawsuit filed by a Swiss watch brand demanding the return of an advertising contract deposit amounting to 570 million won.
According to the legal community on the 11th, the 13th Civil Agreement Division of the Seoul Eastern District Court (Presiding Judge Choi Soo-jin) dismissed all claims made by Mido in a contract deposit return lawsuit filed against Kim Soo-hyun's agency, Gold Medalist, and others on the 27th of last month. As Mido did not appeal by the 10th, which marked the end of the appeal period, the first-instance ruling was finalized as is.
Mido first signed an advertising model contract with Kim Soo-hyun in December 2020 and renewed it annually, extending the contract for another year last year by paying a model fee of 900 million won. However, when a controversy surrounding Kim Soo-hyun's personal life erupted in March of last year, Mido unilaterally terminated the contract in May and filed a lawsuit demanding the return of approximately 577 million won corresponding to the remaining contract period.
Mido reportedly argued that regardless of how the controversy arose, his commercial value as a model had already been compromised, making the contract termination and refund request justifiable. In contrast, Gold Medalist countered that the controversy stemmed from a third party's one-sided disclosure and that since Kim Soo-hyun bore no fault, no liability could be claimed for the contract termination.
Accepting the arguments of the Gold Medalist side, the court ruled that the grounds for contract termination itself were not established.
In March of last year, Kim Soo-hyun suspended all acting and advertising activities and took legal action after allegations surfaced that he had been in a relationship with the late Kim Sae-ron since her minor years. Kim Se-eui, the head of Hover Lab which raised the allegations, was subsequently indicted and detained on charges of violating the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection (Defamation), while Kim Soo-hyun himself received a decision of non-prosecution due to insufficient evidence from the Seoul Seongdong Police Station regarding allegations of violating the Child Welfare Act and false accusation.
Aside from Mido, Kim Soo-hyun's side is currently involved in separate damage suit proceedings totaling around 10 billion won with multiple other advertisers.
kykang@sbs.co.kr
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