Pay Up, You Bratz!: BigLaw Firm Sues Dollmaker More Than $10,000,000 in Fees

O'Melveny & Myers has filed suit against MGA Entertainment seeking payment of $10.2 million in unpaid legal fees related to the company's long-running legal dispute with Mattel over ownership of the popular Bratz line of fashion dolls.

The firm filed the suit against Van Nuys, Calif.-based MGA in Los Angeles County Superior Court late Tuesday. Bratz dolls are one of the most profitable products made by MGA, which manufactures children's toys and accessories. The company's copyright infringement battle with Mattel, the world's largest toy maker, ended in August 2008 with a $100 million judgment in favor of Mattel.

During a three-month trial Mattel alleged that a former employee, Carter Bryant, had developed the sketches for Bratz dolls while he was under contract with Mattel. In recent years, the Bratz line has matched if not surpassed Mattel's signature Barbie dolls in popularity and sales. As a result, El Segundo, Calif.-based Mattel, represented at the trial by John Quinn of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, accused MGA of infringing on its copyrights by using sketches from Bryant's stint at Mattel to develop the dolls.

O'Melveny's role representing MGA effectively ended three years ago. According to the firm's six-page complaint, O'Melveny was hired by MGA in May 2004 to represent the company in litigation commenced by Mattel against MGA and Bryant. O'Melveny claims that MGA entered into oral agreements that were subsequently confirmed in writing about the range of legal services the firm would provide. For years, MGA paid O'Melveny's fees, the firm states in the complaint, but eventually a billing disp ...