{"id":6791,"date":"2025-07-08T20:35:31","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T20:35:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/t-i-and-tinys-71m-omg-girlz-doll-verdict-cut-teeing-up-retrial\/"},"modified":"2025-07-08T20:35:31","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T20:35:31","slug":"t-i-and-tinys-71m-omg-girlz-doll-verdict-cut-teeing-up-retrial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/t-i-and-tinys-71m-omg-girlz-doll-verdict-cut-teeing-up-retrial\/","title":{"rendered":"T.I. and Tiny\u2019s $71M OMG Girlz Doll Verdict Cut, Teeing Up Retrial"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

\n\tA<\/span> federal judge has pared down T.I. and Tameka \u201cTiny\u201d Harris\u2019 $71 million jury verdict over claims that toymaker MGA\u2019s line of \u201cO.M.G.\u201d dolls copied their real-life teen pop group OMG Girlz, teeing up the long-running dispute for a whopping fourth trial.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Tuesday (July 8) order from Judge James V. Selna is the latest in T.I. (Clifford Harris) and his wife Tiny\u2019s battle with billionaire MGA owner Isaac Larian. Since 2020, MGA has been vehemently opposing the Harrises\u2019 claim that the O.M.G. dolls rip off the name, outfits and neon-colored hair of the OMG Girlz \u2014 a defunct musical trio created by Tiny and featuring her daughter Zonnique \u201cStar\u201d Pullins.<\/p>\n

\n\tAn initial trial in the case ended in a mistrial in January 2023 due to improper testimony about racism, and a jury cleared MGA of all wrongdoing at a second trial the following May. But that verdict was wiped on appeal amid evolving Supreme Court precedent, teeing up a third trial this past September in which jurors found that MGA did indeed infringe the OMG Girlz and awarded the Harrises $71 million in damages.<\/p>\n

\n\tJudge Selna\u2019s Tuesday order sustains the jury\u2019s infringement finding and $18 million profit calculation, saying jurors \u201chad substantial evidence with which to find that MGA misappropriated the OMG Girlz\u2019 identity.\u201d But the judge says the jury\u2019s $53 million punitive damages award cannot stand because the Harrises did not prove that MGA deliberately copied the OMG Girlz.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThese pieces [of evidence], when put together, establish just one passing reference to the OMG Girlz in MGA internal emails and one image of a single band member on one product designer\u2019s Pinterest board that also contained over 1,200 similar fashion-related images,\u201d writes Judge Selna. \u201cThis is not clear and convincing evidence of willful infringement or conscious disregard for the rights of others.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tJudge Selna also says punitive damages are not supported because MGA\u2019s conduct was not so bad as to rise to be \u201creprehensible\u201d under the law. He notes that there was little evidence of emotional harm to the OMG Girlz, and that the Harrises \u201cwere not financially vulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs a result, Judge Selna concludes that the Harrises can choose to either reduce the punitive damages award to $1 or have the case retried for a fourth time. T.I. and Tiny have indicated that they plan to opt for a retrial, according to the order.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIf the Harrises reject remittitur, the parties shall meet and confer and file a joint proposed briefing schedule for the structure of a new trial,\u201d writes the judge.<\/p>\n

\n\tReps for both the Harrises and MGA did not return requests for comment on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A federal judge has pared down T.I. and Tameka \u201cTiny\u201d Harris\u2019 $71 million jury verdict over claims that toymaker MGA\u2019s line of \u201cO.M.G.\u201d dolls copied their real-life teen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6792,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3554,3021,1007,3557,3556,759,2921,6413,6412,395],"class_list":["post-6791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lawyers","tag-71m","tag-cut","tag-doll","tag-girlz","tag-omg","tag-retrial","tag-t-i","tag-teeing","tag-tinys","tag-verdict"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}