With unsettled lawsuits still in the air between former EXO members Kris and Luhan and SM Entertainment, a final decision to settle with an appointed arbitrator has been made.
According to the judicial pool on May 18th, the Seoul Central District Court ruled and appointed an official arbitrator and is forcing compulsory mediation for the contract nullification lawsuits against SM Entertainment by Kris and Luhan.
If a settlement offer is not accepted by the warring party, the justice department may take the authority in their own hands and force a reconciliation settlement using the compulsory mediation system.
The justice department stated that if both parties, Kris and Luhan vs SM Entertainment, both do not voice an objection to this ruling within the next two weeks, the compulsory mediation will act as both a settlement and a final ruling.
Both Kris and Luhan’s attorneys stated to Star News, “We are currently reviewing the compulsory arbitration forwarded to us by the justice department, but we cannot release any detailed information regarding the case.”
SM Entertainment, on the other hand, have not made any comments regarding the compulsory mediation ruling. However, they did state that, “When [these stars] have no concrete reason or proof to give up [their career] and are hiring the same attorneys to use the same exact tactics to [leave the group or company], it just shows that once they have debuted and promoted with the group and have gotten popular as a celebrity, they begin ignoring all contracts made with that agency and the agency’s interests to leave for their own benefit.”
Both Kris and Luhan and SM Entertainment have been battling a difficult lawsuit, followed by multiple other countersuits, and may finally be reaching a settlement after the Seoul District Courts have come to the decision to appoint an arbitrator to force a mediation of reconciliation.
Source: Star News