The Seoul Central District Court’s Civil Division 31, presided over by Chief Judge Nam In Soo, held the fifth hearing on September 10 in ADOR’s damages lawsuit against Danielle, her family member, and former ADOR CEO Min Hee Jin.
At the hearing, Danielle’s side argued, “The plaintiff has repeatedly stated that it would provide sufficient support for the NewJeans members to resume their activities, but no substantial activities have taken place to date.”
They continued, “If that is the case, we need to examine whether there was actually a proper activity plan in place,” adding, “We also need to determine whether ADOR had the intention and ability to restore NewJeans’ activities to normal.”
Danielle’s side emphasized that objective documents, such as ADOR’s internal activity plans and proposals, are necessary because the agency is calculating damages based on the income NewJeans could have generated had the group continued its activities normally.
They further argued, “Given that a lawsuit of this scale has been filed against Danielle, we need to verify what activities were actually planned,” and requested that ADOR submit the relevant documents.
ADOR, however, countered that plans for NewJeans’ future activities are matters that will be announced publicly at a later date and argued that they are not the type of documents that need to be provided to the opposing party in advance.
The court said that if the activity plans contain specific implementation details, such as staffing and costs, the relevant accounting records may potentially have already been addressed during the existing appraisal process. The court therefore decided to first examine whether the issues Danielle’s side seeks to verify can be assessed using the documents already submitted. It added that, if necessary, it would later consider whether to issue an order requiring the submission of additional documents.
Previously, the NewJeans members held an emergency press conference on November 28, 2024, and announced that they would terminate their exclusive contracts with ADOR. In response, ADOR filed a lawsuit with the court in December of the same year seeking confirmation that the exclusive contracts remained valid.
On October 30, 2025, the court ruled in the first trial that the exclusive contracts between ADOR and the NewJeans members remained valid. As the members did not appeal the ruling, the judgment became final.
Afterward, ADOR announced that Hyein, Haerin, and Hanni had confirmed their return to the agency and continued discussions with Minji about her potential return. Regarding Danielle, however, ADOR determined that it would be difficult to continue working together and notified her of the termination of her exclusive contract.
ADOR subsequently filed a damages lawsuit against Danielle, seeking to hold her responsible for penalty payments and damages. The agency also sought damages from one of Danielle’s family members and former ADOR CEO Min Hee Jin, alleging responsibility for NewJeans’ departure and delays in the members’ return.
The initial amount claimed was approximately 43.09 billion won, but after reorganizing its claims, ADOR adjusted the amount to approximately 33.09 billion won.
The next hearing is scheduled for October 22 at 3:30 p.m. KST.
Sources: Daum