Chuu has won her final lawsuit against Blockberry Creative.
Former LOONA member Chuu has finally won her lawsuit against her former agency Blockberry Creative regarding the validity of her exclusive contract, which was under dispute due to profit settlements. On June 27, the Supreme Court's 3rd Division upheld the lower court's ruling in favor of Chuu, rejecting the appeal of Blockberry Creative to keep Chuu's exclusive contract.
The decision to reject the agency's appeal means that unless there are specific legal grounds, such as illegality in the lower court's ruling, the case will not proceed to trial again. Chuu initiated the lawsuit against Blockberry Creative in December of 2021 amidst conflicts over profit settlements, and in November of 2022, Chuu was expelled from LOONA under the pretext of bullying. However, Chuu refuted the bullying allegations.
In the initial trial, Chuu's side argued that Blockberry Creative's exclusive contract imposed excessive penalties, requiring payment of 3 times the expenses incurred by the agency upon contract termination plus 15% of estimated revenue from entertainment activities as compensation. The court ruled in favor of Chuu, rejecting Blockberry's assertion that her subsequent activities and signing with another agency, ATRP, invalidated the contract. The court emphasized that since the contract specified its duration, changing agencies did not automatically render it void. It also highlighted disparities in profit distribution, particularly noting that despite significant earnings from Chuu's entertainment activities from 2016 to September 2021, Blockberry's profit distribution clause prevented her from receiving any settlement funds unless profits exceeded 40% of sales revenue, which the court deemed highly unfair.
Additionally, the court cited the case of LOONA's highest-earning year in 2019, where despite generating approximately 2.88 billion ($2,077,330.18 USD) Korean Won in revenue, only 1.1 billion Korean Won ($793,424.72 USD) was accounted for, leaving Chuu without any settlement. Blockberry contested the ruling, but both the appellate court and the Supreme Court upheld the original decision, finding it legally sound.
In related news, LOONA's Heejin, Kim Lip, Jinsol, and Choerry won their recent exclusive contract lawsuit against Blockberry Creative.
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