Saying he wanted to give the lawyers more time to assess the issues, a judge today delayed until early next year his ruling on whether a settlement between Jennifer Love Hewitt and one of the parties the actress sued for allegedly using her image to promote an oral weight loss supplement without her permission was made in good faith.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Marc Marmaro also postponed the scheduled Nov. 30 start of trial at the request of Hewitt’s attorney, Alex Weingarten, who told the court that he needed the delay because his mother recently died. Both the settlement hearing and the trial are now set for Jan. 12.
Hewitt sued MarzSprays LLC in Los Angeles Superior Court in June 2014, seeking unspecified damages and an injunction stopping the firm from further alleged unauthorized uses of her image.
Hewitt’s lawyers later added Wellki LLC as a defendant, alleging that the firm created and distributed advertisements for the MarzSprays product. Hewitt reached a settlement with Wellki and her attorneys dismissed the company as a defendant.
Attorneys for MarzSprays argue the settlement between Hewitt and Wellki was not made in good faith. The resolution was reached for tactical reasons instead of being based on any liability to Hewitt, for which Wellki bears primary responsibility, the MarzSprays attorneys contend in their court papers.
The MarzSprays lawyers also say their clients are entitled to an offset that would force Wellki to pay a portion of any damages that may be assessed against MarzSprays during the non-jury trial.
Hewitt’s lawsuit states that despite promises by Marz in March 2014 to stop using a photograph of her on its website — made after the company received a letter from her attorney — a spam email was subsequently found showing the company continued to use her image in ads with such captions as “As Seen With Jennifer Love Hewitt.”
Hewitt, 36, began her acting career as a child and appeared in the television series “Party of Five” and “Ghost Whisperer,” as well as such films as “I Know What You Did Last Summer” and its sequel.
