On May 14, the Seoul Central Court opened the first trial for the compensation lawsuit worth about 43.1 billion won (nearly 31 million USD) filed by ADOR against Danielle, former CEO Min Hee Jin and a number of related individuals.
At the trial, Danielle's legal representative criticized ADOR's change of lawyers during the proceedings as a "intentional" action.
According to Danielle, initially ADOR used the legal team of Kim & Chang law firm but then replaced them with 4 lawyers from LeeHan law firm and at the same time proposed to postpone the trial schedule.
The female idol's representative said that this move prolonged the litigation process unnecessarily, seriously affecting her artistic activities in the important stage of her career.
This is an act of deliberately delaying the case and shows disrespect to the court," Danielle's side stated her point of view.
Danielle's lawyer also argued that she was targeted from the beginning in a dispute related to exclusive contracts, fines and legal issues with ADOR.
According to them, sending warnings to other NewJeans members is "retaliation and unfair".
Danielle's side requested the court to consider rejecting the lawsuit, arguing that ADOR had not fully submitted the evidence plan as requested, which means that the damage allegations had not been proven.
Min Hee Jin's representative also agreed with this argument and said that the lawsuit is greatly affecting the lives of the defendants.
Meanwhile, ADOR denied intentionally prolonging the case. The company said that the process of changing lawyers and late submission of documents stemmed from practical issues in the process of preparing documents.
ADOR's representative apologized to the court and affirmed that they are completing the necessary procedures for the lawsuit.
Legal disputes began at the end of last year, when ADOR sued Danielle, her family and former CEO Min Hee Jin on charges of violating exclusive contract obligations and causing business damage to the company.
According to ADOR, the defendants are said to be involved in delaying activities and affecting the operation of the NewJeans group.
