Manatt settles lawsuit

ENDING A 13-year dispute touched off by Princess Diana knickknacks, Los Angeles law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips will pay US$25 million to settle a malicious-prosecution lawsuit brought by Los Angeles businessman Stewart Resnick and his wife, Lynda. This was reported yesterday by the Los Angeles Times.

Another defendant in the suit, a memorial fund for the princess, who was killed in a 1997 car wreck, settled its liability in 2004.

The Princess Di memorabilia - a commemorative plate, a purse, and a porcelain bride doll - were produced by Philadelphia's Franklin Mint, then owned by the Resnicks' company Roll International Corp, now called Roll Global. Roll sold Franklin Mint in 2006.

The legal battle began in 1998 when the memorial fund, set up to hold millions of dollars that flowed in after Diana's death, filed a trademark suit in federal court to stop Franklin from selling the items. The action, which accused the Resnicks of "profiting from the death of Diana", was later dismissed.

Striking back in 2002, the Resnicks and Franklin Mint filed a California state court suit alleging that the memorial fund, represented by Manatt, had acted maliciously by initiating the trademark action.

The litigation bumped around until May, when a state appeals court held that Manatt had no probable cause to file the claims of trademark dilution and false advertising against the Resnicks and their companies.

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips became a household name in Jamaica after it was revealed that the US law firm was retained by the Jamaican Government and or Jamaica Labour Party to lobby the US government on the extradition request for former Tivoli strongman Christopher 'Dudus' Coke.

Coke is now awaiting trial in the US on drug and gunrunning charges.