Dunlap Codding Director Jordan A. Sigale Quoted in Law360 on Michael Jordan Verdict
Jordan Sigale was quoted in a Law360 article by Zachary Zagger on August 24, “Jordan Verdict A Warning For Advertisers On Image Use.” The article commented on the verdict in Jordan et al. v. Dominick’s Finer Foods, LLC, in which lawsuit Jordan was awarded $8.9 million in damages by a jury “in a trial over a full-page advertisement in Sports Illustrated taken out in 2009 by former Chicago-area grocery chain Dominick’s Finer Foods LLC, now owned by Safeway Inc., without the superstar athlete’s approval.” The ad offered a coupon for $2 off a steak and depicted and congratulated Jordan, saying “you’re a cut above the rest.” Jordan’s likeness was used without his approval and he testified in trial that he does not take less than $10 million for advertising deals using his image or likeness, and that he would not have approved this use at any price because it was not in keeping with his strategy.
Sigale was quoted as saying the case forced the jury to decide what the true fair market value of the ad was in 2009 and that it says a lot about how a “jury of our peers” views the way in which we compensate people for their right of publicity. He went on to observe, “While this jury was clearly comfortable with the notion that some people’s right of publicity can be extremely valuable, it wasn’t willing to completely side with Mr. Jordan.” Dominick’s had argued that the fair market value was closer to $100,000. Sigale noted that the jury didn’t award Jordan the full $10 million, but also didn’t go as low as Dominick’s sought.