Min Hee Jin has reportedly won her injunction against HYBE. After the ruling, the ADOR CEO's lawyers released a lengthy statement on the matter.
On May 30, 2024, Sports Kyung Hyang released an exclusive report stating Min Hee Jin won her injunction against HYBE Labels.
This ruling stops HYBE's attempt at forcing ADOR to hold a shareholder's meeting, where they have publicly stated they would use their 80% shareholder rights to force Min Hee Jin out. The shareholder's meeting would have been HYBE's way of overthrowing Min Hee Jin from her CEO position at ADOR, as well as terminating the contracts of two ADOR Executives.
With this ruling, Min Hee Jin will remain as ADOR's CEO. Previously, it was announced that the company already named a successor to take Min Hee Jin's position if she were to be overthrown as ADOR's CEO.
Soon after the ruling, Min Hee Jin's legal representative, Sejong, released a statement. There, they revealed that HYBE will not be able to use their voting rights in the shareholder's meeting on May 31. If HYBE chooses to violate this and terminate Min Hee Jin and ADOR executive, they would need to pay 20 billion KRW (roughly $14.6 million USD).
They stated that HYBE failed to provide evidence that showed they had just cause to terminate Min Hee Jin. It was noted that HYBE began illegally obtaining material during their illegal audit, and that information was released to the public indiscriminately. Several KakaoTalk conversations were maliciously edited to spark an immense backlash against Min Hee Jin.
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YouTubers and bloggers used these edited messages and spread them online, which violated and defamed Min Hee Jin and the ADOR executives' private lives. ADOR plans to take legal action against this.
They reiterate that HYBE is not allowed to terminate Min Hee Jin due to the court's ruling, and if they were to do so, it would mean the corporation ignored the court's ruling.
Their whole statement reads,
"Hello,
This is Sejong, the legal representative for ADOR CEO Min Hee Jin.
On April 22, 2024, HYBE called for a shareholder meeting to discuss the termination of Min Hee Jin, scheduled for May 31. However, this request breaches the contractual agreement between Min Hee Jin and HYBE. Following this, on May 7, 2024, Min Hee Jin filed an injunction to prevent HYBE from exercising their shareholder voting rights.
On the afternoon of May 30, 2024, the Seoul Central Court granted this injunction. As a result, HYBE is prohibited from using its voting rights in the shareholder meeting on May 31, 2024. Should HYBE ignore this ruling and proceed to terminate Min Hee Jin and ADOR's executives, they will be required to pay a penalty of ₩20.0 billion KRW to Min Hee Jin.
Since the injunction filing on May 7, HYBE has submitted a large amount of documentation 11 times. In response, our legal team has countered with 9 submissions, refuting each of HYBE's claims. Today, the court weighed the arguments from both sides before deciding to uphold the injunction. This decision signifies that the court did not find HYBE's actions, which have been extensively covered in the media, to be justified.
The central issues in this case were whether HYBE could disregard the contractual agreement that stated the preservation of Min Hee Jin and ADOR's executives for five years and whether HYBE had a legitimate reason for seeking Min Hee Jin's termination.
The shareholder agreement, mutually endorsed by HYBE and Min Hee Jin, clearly stipulates these conditions, yet HYBE rejected this despite it being in clear writing. Ultimately, the court ruled that the wording in the shareholder's greeting is clear, and ruled against HYBE.
Regarding HYBE's grounds for Min Hee Jin's termination, the court also dismissed HYBE's claims, even after reviewing the KakaoTalk conversations HYBE presented. Consequently, HYBE has not demonstrated a valid cause for her dismissal, which was a prime factor in the court granting the injunction.
Since the start of HYBE's illegal audit on April 22, 2024, details from this audit have been inappropriately released, leading to a public defamation campaign against Min Hee Jin. The conversations released have been maliciously edited to malign her character. There has been no substantiated evidence supporting HYBE's allegations.
Throughout the trial, these manipulated conversations were circulated by media outlets and continue to be distorted by YouTubers and bloggers, infringing upon and defaming the private lives of Min Hee Jin and ADOR executives. We are preparing to take legal action against these violations and request the immediate removal of these videos.
Moreover, we urge HYBE to respect and adhere to the court's injunction. Any attempt by HYBE to dismiss Min Hee Jin and ADOR's executives without valid grounds, and in defiance of the court's decision, would constitute a breach of the shareholder agreement and a disregard of lawful process.
Thank you.
- Legal Representative for Min Hee Jin, Sejong"
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Written by Alexa Lopez
