OMG Girlz mga litigation took another turn on Wednesday, when a jury found that MGA Entertainment did not act with malice and awarded T.I. and Tameka “Tiny” Harris no punitive damages. The latest ruling leaves their recovery capped at $17.9 million, even after years of fighting over whether the dolls in L.O.L. Surprise! O.M.G. copied the group’s look.
Wednesday in the OMG Girlz trial
T.I. said, "I think justice was served. I think it’s a testament to the relentlessness and resilience of my wife, daughter, and nieces," after the verdict. The line matters because it lands against a hard number: the couple had sought to restore part of the $53.6 million in punitive damages that a judge in California had already thrown out.
John Keville, speaking for T.I. and Tiny, said, "We appreciate the jury’s time and consideration but are disappointed in the verdict" and added, "We proved malice once and believe that had this jury had the benefit of the three weeks of evidence the last jury saw, they too would have found punitives appropriate." He also said, "It’s clear from the evidence that MGA’s policies are inadequate to prevent this type of IP infringement, and their document retention and collection procedures are equally as suspect."
James V and the $71.5 million split
Judge James V. Selna had already removed the $53.6 million punitive damages portion of the 2024 verdict, calling it "unsupported by the evidence." That left the latest jury to decide only whether malice existed, and it answered no, despite the earlier finding that MGA had misappropriated the group’s name, likeness, and identity for seven dolls.
The contradiction is what makes this case unusual. A prior jury found malice and produced a combined $71.5 million verdict, yet this jury reached the opposite result on punitive damages, keeping the dispute on a narrower track and preventing the plaintiffs from using the newer trial to reopen the full award.
September 2024 to Wednesday
At the September 2024 trial, jurors said MGA used the OMG Girlz as the basis for dolls in its L.O.L. Surprise! O.M.G. line, and T.I. and Tiny later said they felt vindicated. The same record also included MGA’s denial, Isaac Larian’s testimony that T.I., Tiny, and the three OMG Girlz played no role in the doll design, and his description of them as "extortionists."
The path to Wednesday’s decision has moved through January 2023, a mistrial, a second trial that cleared MGA, and then the third trial in September 2024. The practical result now is simple for the Harris side: the compensatory award stays in place, the punitive ask is gone, and any further fight would have to start from that smaller number.
