Actor Kim Soo-hyun has won a final victory in a lawsuit filed by a Swiss watch brand demanding the return of an advertising contract deposit worth over 570 million won.
According to the legal community on the 11th, the 13th Civil Division of the Seoul Eastern District Court (Presiding Judge Choi Soojin) dismissed all claims filed by Mido in a contract deposit return lawsuit against Kim's agency, Gold Medalist, and others on August 27. As Mido did not appeal by the 10th, which was the final day of the appeal period, the first-instance ruling was finalized as is.
Mido initially signed an advertising model contract with Kim in December 2020 and renewed it annually, extending the contract for another year last year with a modeling fee of 900 million won. However, after controversy arose surrounding Kim's private life 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 unfolded, the commercial value as a model had already been compromised, making the contract termination and refund request justifiable. In response, Gold Medalist countered that the controversy stemmed from a third party's one-sided disclosure and that since Kim bore no fault, liability for contract termination could not be enforced.
The court accepted Gold Medalist's argument, ruling that the grounds for contract termination itself were not established.
In March of last year, Kim suspended all acting and advertising activities and took legal action after allegations arose that Kim had been in a relationship with the late Kim Sae-ron since her minor years. Kim Se-ui, head of Hover Lab, who 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 received a non-prosecution decision 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's side is currently involved in separate damage suit battles totaling around 10 billion won with multiple other advertisers.
(SBS Entertainment News, Reporter Kang Kyung-yoon)
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