Closing arguments have been delayed a day in a federal civil trial to decide how much money a grocery-store chain owes former Chicago Bulls star Michael Jordan.
Court documents filed Thursday show closing arguments will begin Friday. The lawyers and judge are planning to meet Thursday, when they will go through jury instructions. Jurors will begin deliberating after closings are completed.
The trial stems from a lawsuit the six-time NBA champion brought against the now-defunct Dominick's Finer Foods for using his name in a 2009 steak ad.
Jordan, his agent and one of his marketing executives took the stand during testimony. They argued that each use of his name is worth at least $10 million.
"I have the final say-so on everything that involves my likeness and my name," Jordan told jurors in Chicago. When his attorney asked him why he brought the case, Jordan said it was "to protect my likeness, my image ... something I value very preciously."
Frederick Sperling, Jordan's attorney, has told jurors Jordan's name was worth at least $480 million to Nike and that each commercial use of Jordan's name is worth more than $10 million. A witness Monday testified Jordan made $100 million from his identity last year, even though he last played in the NBA in 2003.
Dominick's Finer Foods has acknowledged it wasn't authorized to use Jordan's image in the magazine ad, Steven Mandell, a lawyer for Dominick's, has suggested Jordan's attorneys overvalued Jordan's name. It might be worth $10 million in some contexts, he said, but not necessarily in a one-off ad.
