Kim Soo-hyun’s advertiser damages lawsuits are finally heading toward first-trial verdicts, Star News reported on November 1, with one ruling due within days and another set for January.
The Suwon District Court’s Civil Division 14 is scheduled to deliver its verdict on November 11 in a 3.96 billion won damages claim filed by health functional food company FromBio against Kim and his agency, Gold Medalist. The Seoul Central District Court’s Civil Division 22 will follow on January 22 with its ruling in a separate 2.8 billion won suit brought by a cosmetics brand identified only as Company A, also against Kim and Gold Medalist.
The Company A case has run through five hearings since the complaint was filed in April 2025. Company A announced in March 2025, after Kim’s private-life controversy broke, that it would terminate its advertising model contract with the actor, even though the deal was valid through August 2025. The brand said at the time that, as a partner, it had held off on an immediate announcement out of respect for good faith in the contractual relationship, but concluded after seeing the agency’s position that continuing the contract was untenable. It said it was proceeding with termination through lawyers to protect the values of the brand and the trust of consumers.
After its second hearing on October 22, 2025, the FromBio case was suspended for about eight months while the court waited on related cases. Hearings resumed within two days of Garo Sero Research Institute head Kim Se-eui’s detention on May 26, and five hearings in total were completed by the end of October.
Together, the advertiser suits are part of a much larger legal pile-up. Kim is reportedly facing damages claims totalling more than 10 billion won from several companies, including FromBio, Classys, Cuckoo Electronics and Trendmaker, all stemming from the fallout of the March 2025 controversy that halted his activities.
The wider legal picture has shifted in Kim’s favour in recent weeks. Kim Se-eui, whose YouTube broadcasts levelled the allegations against Kim, has been detained and indicted, and police referred several alleged accomplices to prosecutors in October. Kim’s own side has said it plans to raise its damages claim against Kim Se-eui from 12 billion won to about 30 billion won, citing advertising and halted-work losses.
The FromBio verdict on November 11 will be the first of the advertiser rulings to land, and its outcome is likely to set the tone for the remaining cases still working through the courts.
