Did Racial Discrimination Help Barbie Beat the Bratz?
According to the Los Angeles Times, the recent verdict Mattel, Inc. received over rival MGA Entertainment, Inc. may have been tainted by racism among the jurors. The case entailed Mattel, the owners of the Barbie franchise, suing MGA over its Bratz line of dolls, which Mattel claims were created by someone who was under contract to Mattel at the time.
The racism issue was raised by a juror reporting to the judge that another juror made multiple racial comments about MGA’s Isaac Larian, who is Persian. MGA is now asking for a mistrial, claiming that the entire jury was tainted by the comments and that the decision was made based on racial issues.
As with any racial discrimination issue, the question becomes whether the decision was based solely on race or if the jury reached the verdict on other grounds, such as the fact that Mr. Larian’s partner was under contract. One notable fact which may come into play is the fact that the statements did not come until after most of the key issues were decided unanimously in Mattel’s favor.
The court will hear arguments on the issue on August 4, 2008 when the trial resumes for the damages phase.
July 29th, 2008 at 11:00 am
“the statements did not come until after most
of the key issues were decided unanimously
in Mattel’s favor.”
The statements were made *during* deliberation and the one juror brought it up *after* key issues were decided. Therefore, your statement is incorrect.
This is a large all American company suing a small family owned company. This company sues everyone it can and any potential racial bias in its favor should be treated seriously.
August 1st, 2008 at 9:21 am
My statement was based on the statement of the Judge, which was quoted in the Los Angeles Times article. According to the article:
“After interviewing other members of the jury in private, Larson determined that the remarks were made near the end of deliberations, after the jury had already come to unanimous agreement on key issues.
“Although the remarks offended and upset several of the jurors, Larson said in the court order, “the remarks did not, in any way, affect or influence the decision made by the jury.”
As to your statement about racial bias needing to be treated seriously, I agree 100%. That was the reason I wrote the post in the first place, to comment on the possible racial bias issue. My analysis as to the legal issues was not in any way an attempt to minimize the issue, but a method to lay out the legal parameters at play and stimulate discussion.