Less than a year after hip-hop mogul T.I. and his wife Tameka “Tiny” Harris scored an eye-watering $71 million jury award with claims toy titan MGA Entertainment copied the name, neon hair, and unique outfits of their teen pop group OMG Girlz, a judge has slashed the payout by nearly three-quarters.
In a ruling issued Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge James V. Selna found that the largest chunk of the jury’s award — the $53.6 million granted for punitive damages — was “unsupported” by the evidence. Selna said that according to his review, the “maximum punitive damages award sustainable by the proof is $1,” and if the Harrises aren’t willing to take the remaining $17.9 million left in their award, plus the $1, their other option is a new trial.
It wasn’t immediately clear if such a new trial would be limited to the issue of punitive damages only, or if it would be a full retrial on the entire case. In a statement sent to Rolling Stone on Wednesday, the lead lawyer for T.I. and Tiny says the couple plans to “reject” the $1. That plan appears to be based on the assumption that any retrial wouldn’t affect the separate $17.9 million compensatory damages award.
“We are considering our options as to next steps – but if in the end there is another mini-trial on just the punitive damages, we expect another jury will be similarly offended by MGA’s maliciousness and copying,” the lawyer, John Keville with Sheppard Mullin, says.
“The court’s order confirms what the jury found, that there was more than sufficient evidence to find MGA wrongly misappropriated and infringed the OMG Girlz’ rights,” Keville says. “Obviously, the Harrises and the OMG Girlz are very disappointed that the jury’s appropriate assessment and response to MGA’s willful and bad faith conduct was discounted and not given the same weight.”
Judge Selna made his dramatic ruling after MGA argued it did not act willfully and that the punitive damages amount was excessive. The judge said he ultimately determined that while there was evidence showing lead MGA designers knew about the OMG Girlz in December 2019, prior to the creation of the infringing dolls, the evidence presented to jurors failed to show a “deliberate intent” to violate the OMG Girlz’s intellectual property. Selna took a swipe at MGA when he said company staffers lost credibility in his eyes by refusing to “concede copying” famous celebrities, even when the imitation was “blatantly obvious.” But he said the overall trial evidence fell short of proving “willfulness or intent” on the part of MGA.
“There was no reliable evidence that MGA had any knowledge of the group’s trade dress or desire to use their likeness to create the infringing dolls. The strong appearance that MGA copied other celebrities does not provide clear and convincing evidence that such was the case for the OMG Girlz,” he wrote in his 33-page ruling obtained by Rolling Stone.
The judge gave T.I. and Tiny two weeks to get back to him on what they plan to do next. Lawyers for MGA did not respond to Rolling Stone‘s request for comment on Wednesday.
The first trial in the case started in January 2023 and ended in a mistrial when jurors heard barred testimony accusing the toy company of “cultural appropriation.” A second trial a few months later cleared MGA of wrongdoing, but that verdict was overturned on appeal due to a Supreme Court ruling giving more weight to evidence about consumer confusion. The third trial ended with the $71 million verdict in September 2024.
At last year’s trial, T.I. and Tiny alleged MGA marketed seven specific dolls in its wildly popular “L.O.L. Surprise! O.M.G.” line that clearly copied the way the OMG Girlz appeared at “very specific public events” or in publicized photos. MGA denied the allegations. The company’s billionaire founder, Isaac Larian, testified that T.I., Tiny, and the three members of the OMG Girlz — Zonnique “Star” Pullins, Bahja “Beauty” Rodriguez, and Breaunna “Babydoll” Womack — played no role in the design of his dolls. He called them “extortionists.” The jury sided with the Harrises.
After the verdict, the T.I. and Tiny said they were vindicated.
“I think justice was served. I think it’s a testament to the relentlessness and resilience of my wife, daughter, and nieces,’ T.I. told Rolling Stone by phone, minutes after the verdict was read. “We’re just happy we were able to come out on top and fight for creatives and our intellectual property that large corporations seem to think is just public domain and free for all to come and grab and use.”
Tiny said the award was more than she expected. “At the end of the day, the evidence showed [MGA] stole from us. They stole from our creation,” Tiny told Rolling Stone. “I’m glad we stuck with it. No one could tell me they did not steal from us.”
Pullins, Rodriguez, and Womack attended the trial and testified. They hugged in the hallway outside the courtroom after the verdict. “I’m so grateful and overwhelmed with joy,” Womack said at the time. “When the judge asked if we had a memorable trade dress and everyone raised their hands, I got so emotional. We all silently cried,” Pullins added.
