Lee Kwang Soo’s girlfriend Lee Sun Bin wins the lawsuit against her previous management company.
Wellmade Star Entertainment filed a civil lawsuit against actress Lee Sun Bin but lost in both the first and second trials.
On September 23 KST, the civil division 17-2 of the Seoul High Court gave the same ruling as the first trial. The issue stems from 2020 when she wanted to terminate her exclusive contract with Wellmade Star.
Wellmade Star Entertainment filed a lawsuit against Lee Sun Bin for 500 million KRW (~355,323.30 USD) in June 2020, claiming that Lee Sun Bin had unlawfully terminated her exclusive contract. The agency stated, “Lee Sun Bin violated her exclusive contract and notified to terminate the contract and has been continuing her activities.”
However, Lee Sun Bin counter-argued that she had pointed out issues such as obscure payment calculations and accounting and casting her on shows without prior notification through her manager. However, the agency demoted her manager and continued to obstruct her work.
In the exclusive contract signed between Lee Sun Bin and Wellmade Star Entertainment, there is a clause that the agency must provide details of payment calculations and payment settlements.
Lee Sun Bin had previously raised an issue with the payment calculations being unclear for her advertisement fees back in August 2018. However, she explained she still did not receive any document of proof.
The court judged in favor of Lee Sun Bin during the first trial. The court acknowledged that Wellmade Star Entertainment did not provide detailed evidence of tax invoices or documents of proof. The agency only indicated the approximate amount in the payments made out to the actress each month. Additionally, the agency did not respond to any inquiries made by the actress.
The court added, “In this case, the exclusive contract was legally terminated due to a breach in the contract that the agency did not provide any document of proof that they are responsible for. Therefore, there is no issue in Lee Sun Bin’s independent activities.”
Wellmade Star Entertainment appealed, stating that the agency followed the exclusive contract faithfully. However, the second trial ended with the same results as the first.