Deprived of Smurfs, Toy Dealer Wins $2.5 Million

A federal court jury in San Diego has awarded a former Tijuana toy dealer a $2.5-million judgment against a Woodland Hills firm, which she charged put her out of business by failing to deliver 500,000 Smurf dolls.

The firm, Wallace Berrie Inc., was sued for breach of contract by Carmen Gomez de Esquer, owner of Mundo de Juguetes (World of Toys) in the Mexican border city.

In 1982, Esquer said, she placed with the Woodland Hills firm a $500,000 order for the Smurfs, elf-like blue residents of a mythical kingdom popularized by comic strips and television cartoons.

They were to be resold throughout Mexico during the Christmas season.

The worldwide licensing rights to the Smurfs are owned by Schleich, a West German company. Wallace Berrie has the rights to sell and distribute Smurfs in the United States.

Esquer said that it was a month after placing her order that she learned that Schleich had granted the Mexican distribution rights for Smurfs to the Mexican arm of Mattel Toys, and consequently her firm could not import them from Wallace Berrie Inc.

She was forced to return deposits from her customers and went out of business early the next year, she said, suffering financial and emotional damage.