Lee Seung-gi wins 690 million KRW against Hook... Court recognizes settlement obligation after contract termination

The court ruled in favor of Lee Seung-gi in the settlement money lawsuit he filed against his former agency Hook Entertainment. The Civil Division 20 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Kim Min-cheol) issued a partial ruling in favor of the plaintiff on the 28th of last month in the settlement money claim lawsuit Lee Seung-gi filed against Hook Entertainment (now Chorokbaem Media). The court decided that Hook Entertainment must pay approximately 690 million KRW out of the roughly 830 million KRW Lee Seung-gi claimed. The key issue in this lawsuit was the distribution of Lee Seung-gi’s music and album revenue generated after the exclusive contract ended in December 2022. The exclusive contract between both parties included a clause stating that any revenue generated after the contract’s termination would be settled through a separate agreement. However, Hook Entertainment argued that since no separate agreement was made, they had no obligation to settle. The court ruled that the contract’s definite expression of ″settlement″ meant that the separate agreement was merely a procedure to determine the distribution ratio and did not eliminate the obligation to settle. The court also pointed out that if Hook Entertainment induced the contract termination and then refused to negotiate settlement, they could take all the profits earned from the artist’s activities. The court found Hook Entertainment responsible for the contract termination between Lee Seung-gi and the agency. The reasons cited included the failure to properly settle music and album revenue for about 20 years and the refusal to provide related documents despite Lee Seung-gi’s repeated requests. The settlement conflict between Lee Seung-gi and Hook Entertainment became public in 2022. Lee Seung-gi sent a certified letter in November of the same year demanding settlement documents, claiming he had not properly received music royalties since his debut. Hook Entertainment paid approximately 5.4 billion KRW based on their own calculations and filed a lawsuit requesting confirmation that there were no additional debts. Lee Seung-gi countered with a counterclaim demanding unpaid settlement money. On April 1 of last year, the first trial court ruled that Hook Entertainment must pay Lee Seung-gi an additional approximately 580 million KRW for advertising fees and other amounts. Neither party appealed, making the ruling final. With this, Lee Seung-gi has been recognized by the court’s ruling as having the right to receive settlement money not only in the existing lawsuit but also in the lawsuit concerning revenue generated after the contract termination.