Final 12 months, a California jury awarded rapper T.I. and his spouse Tameka “Tiny” Harris $71 million after a years-long trial in opposition to toy producer MGA Leisure for an mental property violation. Nevertheless, a 12 months later, the couple could also be going again to trial after U.S. District Courtroom Decide James V. Selna’s ruling this week famous that a big portion of that award ($53.6 million in punitive damages) was unsupported by proof.
“The utmost punitive damages award sustainable by the proof is $1,” Decide Selna stated, per Rolling Stone.
The lawsuit, relationship again to 2020, was filed in opposition to the producer for his or her “L.O.L.” assortment of “OMG” dolls, which T.I. and Tiny declare stole the picture and likeness of members from the OMG Girlz, a musical group they created over a decade in the past, which included their daughter Zonnique. When the jury discovered that the producer misappropriated the woman group’s picture, identify, and likeness, T.I. and Tiny have been awarded $17.9 million in compensatory damages and $53.6 million in punitive damages.
“It was a battle. It was a hell of a battle,” Tiny stated following the decision as beforehand reported by theGrio. “We couldn’t be extra blissful…We needed to thank the jurors for simply seeing us by way of this, and simply believing in what we stated. They heard our story and so they knew we wasn’t mendacity. It’s superb.”
Now, Decide Selna is providing the couple two choices: settle for the $1 in punitive damages + $17.9 million in compensatory damages or proceed with a brand new trial. Based on T.I. and Tiny’s lawyer, John Keville, the couple is “contemplating” their subsequent steps however plans to reject the $1.
“We’re contemplating our choices as to subsequent steps — but when ultimately there’s one other mini-trial on simply the punitive damages, we count on one other jury can be equally offended by MGA’s maliciousness and copying,” Keville advised Rolling Stone. “The court docket’s order confirms what the jury discovered, that there was greater than ample proof to seek out MGA wrongly misappropriated and infringed the OMG Girlz’ rights. Clearly, the Harrises and the OMG Girlz are very disillusioned that the jury’s applicable evaluation and response to MGA’s willful and unhealthy religion conduct was discounted and never given the identical weight.”
