Legal News

Barbie-Bratz Juror Booted for Ethnic Slurs; MGA Asks for Mistrial

By Dan Slater

It’s been a nasty doll fight out there in California, and the ugliness ain’t over. The Journal’s Nick Casey reports that Judge Stephen Larson, now presiding over the damages phase of the Barbie-Bratz suit, dismissed a juror today for making ethnic slurs about MGA’s CEO Isaac Larian, a Jewish immigrant from Iran who has testified extensively during the trial. Here’s a copy of his order.

The juror was part of the panel that last week decided that early sketches of the Bratz doll, which had been produced by MGA, were actually the property of rival Mattel, maker of Barbie. Mattel had argued that Carter Bryant, the designer who sold the Bratz idea to MGA, dreamed up the doll while still under contract with Mattel. The jury found MGA and Larian liable for “intentional interference” with Bryant’s contract, adding that Larian had “aided and abetted” his breach of loyalty to the company.

Both companies said the matter arose after a juror informed Judge Larson that a fellow juror had made the slurs during deliberations that led to last week’s verdict. The jurors were in court Friday, after beginning consideration earlier this week of the second phase of the trial to set damages.

After the juror was dismissed, an MGA lawyer said the company asked the judge for a mistrial. The motion will be heard on August 4, according to MGA.

MGA has been repped by Skadden’s Tom Nolan, while Quinn Emanuel’s John Quinn has repped Mattel.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on July 25, 2008 (boomark / email).