The damages lawsuit ADOR filed against former NewJeans member Danielle returned to court for its sixth hearing on October 22 — and the judge wants receipts. The 31st Civil Division of the Seoul Central District Court pressed both sides to clarify exactly which deals were lost and why, as ADOR pursues more than 33 billion won (about $24.7 million) in damages.
ADOR has claimed that most of NewJeans’ advertising contracts fell through after the members refused to carry out their exclusive contracts. “It is true that most of the ad contracts were broken because the members refused to perform them,” ADOR’s legal representative said, according to allkpop. “It seems highly unlikely that they would have refused all ad contracts and chosen to carry out only some of them.”
The court wants specifics
The hearing, presided over by Judge Nam In-soo, focused on how ADOR’s claimed damages should actually be calculated. The court pointed out the need to confirm whether planned advertisements and concerts were genuinely canceled and why the contracts were halted, per allkpop. The agency agreed to separate the ad contracts that were actually carried out from those that fell through.
But ADOR pushed back on the burden of proof, arguing it would be impossible to document every planned activity through individual contracts: “A full year of activities cannot all be planned in advance. Since not every contract could have been signed and every venue booked, it is impossible to claim damages by revealing each specific contract one by one.”
A stalling accusation
The defendants — Danielle, a family member, and former ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin — aren’t buying it. The Korea JoongAng Daily reports that Danielle’s lawyers accused ADOR’s team of stalling at the sixth hearing, which yielded little in tangible results. K-POPIT notes the case, filed over the collapse of the NewJeans exclusive contracts, remains one of the most consequential legal battles in K-pop — with the price tag of Min Hee-jin’s impact on the group still fiercely disputed.
The figures underline the stakes. At 33.1 billion won — roughly $24.7 million — the suit is among the largest damages claims in K-pop history, and its outcome will shape how agencies price the cost of a group collapse. With the court now demanding concrete proof of lost deals, the case moves from rhetoric to receipts — and both sides know the next hearing will be fought on paper, not principle.
