Court rules in favour of ex-LOONA member Chuu in contract lawsuit against agency Blockberry Creative

A Seoul court has reportedly ruled in favour of former LOONA member Chuu in her contract lawsuit against Blockberry Creative.

Today (August 17), several South Korean news outlets reported that the 23-year-old idol has won her lawsuit against the K-pop agency over her exclusive contract. Chuu had initially filed for a provisional injunction to suspend her contract with Blockberry in January 2022, which was accepted by the court.

The 12th Civil Division of the Seoul Northern District Court has now officially nullified her contract with the agency. “I confirm that the exclusive contract signed between the Plaintiff (Chuu) and the Defendant (Blockberry) in December 2017 is invalid,” said the presiding judge per Star News. Blockberry Creative has also reportedly been ordered to bear the costs of the lawsuit.

Neither Chuu nor Blockberry Creative has commented on the court’s ruling.

Following Chuu’s initial provisional injunction, the singer did not join LOONA on their first world tour that year, though the agency cited scheduling conflicts at the time. Blockberry later removed Chuu from the girl group in November 2022, accusing the idol of using “violent language and misuse of power” and claiming that she had violated terms of her exclusive contract. In a statement on Instagram in response, the singer said she had not “done anything shameful”.

After Chuu’s firing, the other 11 members of LOONA filed to suspend their own contracts with Blockberry Creative in the following months, and have since succeeded. Members Heejin, Haseul, Kim Lip, Jinsoul and Choerry are now under Modhaus, headed by former LOONA creative director Jaden Jeong, and have been releasing music under the ARTMS project.

Meanwhile, Hyunjin, Yeojin, Vivi, Gowon and Hyeju (previously known as Olivia Hye) with signed with new agency CTEDM, also founded by a former Blockberry director, and are preparing to debut as a new group, Loossemble. Member Yves has yet to sign with a new agency.