LAWSUIT Taco Bell to pay credited Chihuahua creators

The restaurant chain insists another agency originated the character.
LOS ANGELES TIMES
Dog bites man. Again.
A federal judge ordered Taco Bell Corp. on Thursday to pay an additional $11.8 million to the men credited with inspiring the talking Chihuahua character that starred in a popular 1990s ad campaign for the Irvine, Calif.-based fast-food company.
U.S. District Judge Gordon Quist in Grand Rapids, Mich., tacked on the extra money as interest to the more than $30 million a federal jury in June awarded Joseph Shields and Thomas Rinks for breach of contract and other claims against Taco Bell.
The marketing executives filed their lawsuit in Michigan, where their company, Wrench, is based.
Advertising campaign
Lawyers for Shields and Rinks said the two men were negotiating to adapt their "Psycho Chihuahua" cartoon into a live character for Taco Bell when the company broke off talks and took the idea to another agency.
The resulting campaign hit the airwaves in 1997 with the catch phrase "Yo quiero Taco Bell," Spanish for "I want Taco Bell."
The $500 million campaign for the Mexican-food chain, which is a subsidiary of the Louisville, Ky.-based Yum Brands Inc., ended in 2000.
Taco Bell spokeswoman Laurie Schalow said the character was created by the company's former agency, not by Shields and Rinks, and that Taco Bell planned to appeal the initial ruling.
Michigan law requires that interest be calculated from the original filing date of a lawsuit; Shields and Rinks filed in 1998. The award now totals about $42 million.