According to Yonhap News, last month, the court approved ADOR's ban request against NewJeans (Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin, Hyein), to "maintain the status of a management company" and "prohibit NewJeans from signing advertising contracts" without going through ADOR.
The verdict stated that the documents provided by NewJeans did not prove the group's argument that ADOR had violated contract obligations or had broken relationships.
After the NewJeans members appealed the verdict through official protest, the court held a hearing to re-evaluate the decision on April 9.
However, this hearing did not have the appearance of NewJeans members but only legal representatives, and ended after about 15 minutes.
On April 16, the Seoul Central District Court finally rejected NewJeans' appeal, upholding the original verdict in favor of ADOR and reaffirming the legality of the ban.
But immediately after the court upheld the original verdict, the NewJeans members continued to protest and filed an appeal with the Seoul High Court.
NewJeans' legal representative from law firm Shin & Kim LLC said: Today, the court has decided to accept the initial verdict on the temporary order. Accordingly, we immediately filed an appeal. We will continue to participate honestly in the ongoing legal procedures and try our best to clarify the matter."
Meanwhile, the first hearing in the main lawsuit to confirm the validity of the exclusive contract between ADOR and NewJeans took place on April 3.
NewJeans maintains the viewpoint of not being able to return to ADOR because the belief has been broken, CEO Min Hee Jin was fired and the company's management board has completely changed compared to the time they initially signed the contract.
In response, ADOR affirmed that NewJeans's saying that they could not promote without Min Hee Jin was unreasonable.
ADOR is a subsidiary of HYBE, the number one entertainment company in the industry. Therefore, it is unreasonable to say that ADOR could not find another producer and support NewJeans.
In addition, considering that NewJeans prepared the concert in Hong Kong (China) themselves without Min Hee Jin's help and successfully completed the concert, stating that only Min Hee Jin could do that is contrary to their own words and actions" - ADOR argued.
When asked if both sides were ready for mediation, ADOR said they were ready to reach an agreement. On the contrary, NewJeans' mediation will not be carried out because the members have suffered mental damage.
According to the Korea Times, legal experts said that NewJeans will find it difficult to turn the situation around against ADOR. The legal battle between NewJeans and ADOR could last 3 years, which would be even more disadvantageous for the group.
In particular, the five female idols could face a fine of 400 billion won to 600 billion won (about 7.3 trillion VND to 10.9 trillion VND) if they lose the lawsuit.
