Gaseyeon Loses Damages Lawsuit Over Additional Performance Cancellation Against Co-Producer of 'Musical Park Chung-hee'

Seoul Central District Court. / Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] Garosero Research Institute (Gaseyeon) filed a lawsuit claiming damages related to the cancellation of additional performances against the company that co-produced the musical Park Jeonghee, but lost in the first trial.

According to the court on the 17th, the Seoul Central District Court Civil Agreement Division 63-3 (Chief Judge Lee Minsu) recently ruled against the plaintiff in a damages claim lawsuit worth about 290 million KRW filed by Gaseyeon Co., Ltd. against Kim Jaecheol, CEO of Musical Company A (former MBC president), and his corporation.

Earlier, both parties signed a contract in October 2020 to co-produce the musical Park Jeonghee. Gaseyeon, which financed the total production cost, was granted exclusive rights to theater and video sales revenue for five years from the first performance date, while Musical Company A was responsible for hiring actors and staff to produce and perform the musical, receiving half of the profits generated from the musical.

After Gaseyeon paid a total of 440 million KRW as the net production cost for the premiere performance, Musical Company A held 20 premiere performances from February to March last year.

The issue arose regarding additional performances. In March last year, Gaseyeon separately paid 10 million KRW to Musical Company A for musical production and transferred 50 million KRW a month later for additional performances, but the additional performances were ultimately not held.

Accordingly, Gaseyeon claimed, "Musical Company A must compensate for damages due to non-fulfillment of obligations under the additional performance contract." They argued, "The plaintiff paid 250 million KRW for additional performance production costs and verbally agreed with the defendant to hold additional performances starting April last year. However, the defendant unilaterally demanded increased production costs, contract replacement, payment of production costs, and replacement of plaintiff’s staff, and subsequently did not hold the performances."

Furthermore, "The plaintiff sold performance tickets worth about 230 million KRW related to the additional performances but suffered damages due to refunds caused by the cancellation of the performances," they also claimed.

However, the first trial court dismissed all of Gaseyeon’s claims, stating, "There is no evidence to recognize that the additional performance contract was verbally concluded." The court ruled, "Although there was a tentative agreement to hold additional performances, no formal contract was concluded because there was no agreement on the amount of production costs to be paid by the plaintiff. The plaintiff transferred 50 million KRW upon the defendant’s request to pay part of the production costs, but a formal contract was still not concluded."

The court added, "At that time, the defendant proposed paying 350 million KRW for additional performance production costs, but the plaintiff stated they could pay up to 250 million KRW, and the difference was not resolved, so the related contract was not concluded." The court further stated, "The plaintiff’s claim based on the assumption that the additional performance contract was concluded is unfounded without further examination."