The Supreme Court has ruled in favor of a construction company that filed a suit against the late Choi Jin Shil. The court ruled, “Models who failed to maintain appropriate dignity as the faces of the products they represent, should compensate for the damages caused to their advertiser.”
Choi Jin Shil was hired in March 2004 to be the representing model for Shinhan Engineering & Construction Co. Ltd and that if she were to damage the company's reputation, she would have to pay back 500 million won (about $399,361 USD). Later in the year, pictures of Choi's bruised face, allegedly caused by the abuse from her then husband Jo Sung Min, appeared everywhere. The company filed a suit against her, requesting 3 billion won for the "damages" to their image.
"We used this model so that their image will attract customers," said the Supreme Court in the ruling. "The model's failure to maintain a decent image is a breach of contract." As a model, it was said she is supposed to represent "dignity and happiness." And as the company's model, she is obligated to appear as such.
In other words, Choi Jin Shil was successfully sued because her husband was beating her ass, and she wasn't "dignified" or "happy" about it.
Sauce You know what's also great?
Choi committed suicide back in 2008.
So that means you can SUCCESSFULLY sue a DEAD DV VICTIM for "ruining" your corporation's reputation because they were unhappy that they were being abused. What.
Thankfully a lot of people online are boggled at the fucked-upness of the whole thing.