Angela Chang Ordered To Pay $226K To Her Former Companies For Breach Of Contract; She Says She Will Keep Fighting For Her Rights

There seems to be no end to poor Angela Chang’s problems. The Taiwanese singer, who was famously accused — more than once, in fact — of being an unfilial daughter, also has a rocky history with those she has worked with… and it looks like things have come to a very expensive head.

On June 30, the High Court ruled that Angela must pay a total of NT$4,762,716 (about S$226,000) in compensation to her former label, Linfair Records, and management agency, Qing Tian, for damages incurred from breach of contract.

According to reporters, the 38-year-old was ordered to pay NT$40,000 (S$1,900) during the first trial, as well as an additional NT$630,000 (S$29,800) during the second trial. The case was brought to the High Court and they substantially increased the sentenced amount by another NT$4,092,716 (about S$194,000).

Angela certainly isn’t going to take all this lying down. That night, she shared a Facebook post that read: “Your rights are not handed out to you by others, you have to fight for them yourself. I will fight for my rights!”

Her sister Connie also spoke to reporters, saying: “We are surprised by the verdict. At the moment, we have not received the written judgement and have no way of knowing the reason for the court’s decision. As soon as we have received it, we will consult our lawyers and are not ruling out filing an appeal.” She later confirmed that they will indeed be filing an appeal.

​This is just the latest development in a long and dramatic legal battle between Angela and the companies. It all started when Angela requested to terminate her contract with Linfair and Qing Tian in 2011 as her album release schedule wasn’t going as planned (she was also rumoured to be unhappy with their lack of support during her 2008 family feud).

However, both companies fought back and sued Angela for breach of contract, saying that she had only released six albums in nine years, instead of the stipulated 10 albums. They sought a hefty compensation of over NT$34mil (S$1.6mil) in 2013.

In the end, while the High Court ruled that Angela’s termination of contract was effective, her failure to release her seventh album when it was in the middle of production incurred losses for Linfair, hence the order for her to pay the additional S$194,000.

Angela may have to brace herself for another messy fight with her appeal. After expressing how pleased they are with the verdict, Linfair added that “as long as Miss Chang does not file an appeal, we will have no other requirements”.