US: Legal fees slam PopCap

A judge has topped up PopCap’s damages and fees payable to casual rival MumboJumbo, adding $2.7 million in legal fees to the $4.6 million damages awarded last week, following a jury verdict.

Following a hearing in the 193rd Civil District Court inDallas County, JudgeCarl Ginsbergsaid he would enter an order requiring PopCap to pay$2.7 millionin attorneys’ fees to MumboJumbo, including$525,000for post-verdict appeals. When added to the jury’s award of$4.6 million, the total amount to be paid by PopCap now stands at$7.3 million.

The case harks back to a 2006 distribution-deal-gone-bad between the two companies. MumboJumbo’s lawyers successfully argued that PopCap had been guilty of "fraud and tortious interference", deliberately souring a relationship between MumboJumbo and a retailer.