MGA-Mattel Fee Battle Rages On.
We have posted on this before, but Amanda Bronstad’s July 6, 2011 post in The National Law Journal gives us all an important update. Discovery master Robert O’Brien recommended in the on-going MGA-Mattel Bratz Doll litigation–where MGA recovered $88.5 million after a jury trial–that MGA be paid $84.7 million in attorney’s fees for defending Mattel’s copyright infringement suit and $23.4 million in fees for pursuing trade secret claims. That totals about $108 million in fees out of the requested $129 million in fees by MGA. U.S. District Judge David O. Carter must make the ultimate decision, in a matter that is still under submission.
Talking Tina. Twilight Zone.
American Apparel Hit With Arbitration Award, Consisting Mainly of Fees.
In 2008, former employee Christopher Renfro (who is black), sued retailer American Apparel and one of its supervisors for racial discrimination based on an alleged racial slur made by the supervisor and possibly other employees. Recently, an Oakland arbitrator found against American Apparel, awarding Mr. Renfro damages of $32,500 and $310,000 in attorney’s fees.
City of Hemet Exceeds $800,000 Legal Fee Budget By About $500,000.
Finally, Kevin Pearson in a July 9, 2011 post on The Press Enterprise reports that the City of Hemet exceeded its $852,000 legal fees budget for the 2010-2011 fiscal year by almost $500,000. The excess was mainly accounted for by union negotiations and litigation over marijuana collectives. Hemet incurred more than $2.2 million in legal fees in 2007-2008, prompting some measures that kept fees under $1 million in each of the net two fiscal cycles, Mr. Pearson reports, before the 2010-2011 hiccup.
City of Hemet. 1915. Library of Congress.