Rapper Sleepy Wins Second Trial Against Former Agency

Rapper Sleepy (real name Kim Seong-won, 41 years old) partially won in the appeal of the damages claim lawsuit filed against his former agency TS Entertainment. The Seoul Central District Court Civil Appeal Division 8-2 recently ruled that TS Entertainment must pay Sleepy a total of 57 million won, including the unpaid contract and settlement amounts.

In the first trial, TS Entertainment was ordered to pay Sleepy 200 million won, but in the appeal, some of the unpaid settlement amounts were not recognized, resulting in a reduced amount. The appellate court determined that 33 million won of the 49 million won in unpaid exclusive contract fees claimed by Sleepy had been extinguished by TS Entertainment's counterclaim. Accordingly, the company concluded that it only needed to pay 16 million won.

Additionally, only some of Sleepy's claims regarding the settlement amounts were accepted. The court ruled that there were no settlement amounts to be paid from the first quarter of 2013 to the first quarter of 2018 and in the first and fourth quarters of 2018, but determined that there was an obligation to pay approximately 46 million won in settlement amounts for the first quarter of 2019 and 8.3 million won earned from broadcasting appearances from November 2018 to the following August.

The court stated that from the amount TS Entertainment must pay Sleepy, approximately 13 million won for the company's distribution of profits from entertainment activities that Sleepy had already received would be deducted, ultimately holding the company responsible for paying about 57 million won plus delayed damages.

Sleepy filed a lawsuit in October 2019, claiming he had not received the contract and settlement amounts. Meanwhile, the counter-lawsuit filed by TS Entertainment for breach of the exclusive contract was ultimately confirmed in favor of Sleepy by the Supreme Court last year.