MGA Settles With Insurers

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MGA Entertainment Inc. has reached a confidential settlement with its insurers over payment of the damages and court costs in the company’s legal tussle with rival toymaker Mattel Inc.

In court documents filed Friday, MGA and its insurers Hartford Insurance Co. of the Midwest, Hartford Fire Insurance Co. and the Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. agreed to settle who would pay damages and legal bills arising from MGA’s fight with Mattel over the line of Bratz dolls. MGA filed a federal lawsuit in 2008 against the insurers, saying they had breached their agreement to pay for MGA’s defense.

Terms of the settlement were filed under seal so Mattel does not obtain “any strategic advantage through information obtained from the settlement agreement including, but not limited to, information regarding the funding of MGA’s defense.”

MGA is on the hook for at least $160 million, including a $100 million damage award and more than $60 million in court costs. When MGA filed its lawsuit, the Van Nuys toymaker stated that it had amassed at least $63 million in defense fees and costs, which have likely increased as the case has made its way through the appellate process and into a second phase.

Attorneys for MGA and the insurance companies did not immediately return requests for comment.

In MGA’s suit against its insurance companies, the company argued that the insurers should cover the court costs because Mattel claimed that advertisements for the Bratz dolls infringed on Mattel’s copyright. MGA’s policies state the company should be covered for any advertising injuries.

A federal jury decided last year that a former Mattel doll designer created the Bratz name and characters for MGA while still working for Mattel. As a result of the litigation, control of the Bratz line was awarded to Mattel in addition to the $100 million damages award against MGA.

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