[Apha Biz=(Chicago) Reporter Paul Lee] he court has decided to pay 7.2 billion won in compensation, the same as the first trial, in a lawsuit filed by chicken franchise BBQ against bhc to return unfair gains.
The two companies plan to appeal to the Supreme Court without acknowledging the outcome of the appeal.
The Seoul High Court ruled on the 25th that bhc should pay a total of 7.16 billion won in profits and interest on it in the second trial of a lawsuit for the return of unfair gains related to logistics and commodity contracts filed by BBQ against bhc.
The case stems from a logistics service contract and a product supply contract signed with bhc in June 2013 while BBQ sold bhc's management rights to private equity fund operator CVCI. At that time, BBQ and bhc signed a 10-year long-term contract to set a minimum guaranteed operating profit ratio (15.7%), and BBQ decided to compensate bhc for the loss if bhc's operating profit ratio falls short of the standard. On the contrary, if the operating profit ratio exceeds 15.7%, bhc will return the excess profit to BBQ.
BBQ terminated the product supply and logistics service contract for bhc in 2017, judging that bhc's trust relationship collapsed by hacking into its internal computer network. In addition, despite several requests for implementation of the contract, he filed a lawsuit to pay 10.9 billion won in unfair gains in February 2020, saying he has never fulfilled his settlement obligations since the conclusion of the contract.
In November last year, the first trial court partially acknowledged bhc's violations of the contract and ruled that it should compensate 7.16 billion won in unfairly earned profits from 2015 to 2017 and all interest on it.
In response, BBQ appealed in December of the same year, claiming that bhc should pay an additional 4.1 billion won, which was not recognized in the first trial, and bhc countered that the compensation was excessively set. However, in the second trial, both sides' claims were dismissed and the same ruling as the first trial was maintained.
The two companies plan to file an appeal with the Supreme Court, saying they do not accept the Seoul High Court's ruling.
AlphaBIZ 폴 리(hoondork1977@alphabiz.co.kr)
