A NLJ story, “Insurers Fail to Slip the Hook for MGA’s Bratz Litigation Costs” reports that a federal judge has sided with MGA Entertainment Inc, against insurance companies that balked at paying its legal costs for the past two years of its battle against Mattel Inc. over copyrights to the Bratz doll. In a pair of rulings on Jan. 27, U.S. District Judge David Carter in Santa Ana, Calif., rejected motions by Evanston Insurance Co. and its parent corporation, Markel Corp., to toss MGA’s attempts to force them to pay up.
The insurers claimed that their duty to defend MGA ended April 12, 2010, when Mattel, maker of Barbie, filed its fourth amended counterclaim. They argued that Mattel dropped allegations of trade libel and failed to assert sufficient “advertising injury” against MGA, both of which were predicated for MGA’s insurance coverage. Carter wrote that the companies failed to show that Mattel’s counterclaim “extinguished all potential that MGA’s use of Mattel’s advertising strategies and plans took the form of MGA’s advertising.”
Last year, the four insurers attempted to intervene in MGA’s case against Mattel in a bid to obtain a share of the $141 million in attorney fees and costs awarded as part of a final judgment in that case. The insurers sought about $80 million, but Carter denied their motion on Sept. 27. They have appealed his ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, which has scheduled opening briefs for April.