LOS ANGELES (BRAIN) — X Games medalist Ryan Guettler has withdrawn his suit against Hyper Bicycles, Walmart, Todson, and others over the use of his image in a photograph on the packaging of BMX accessories sold at Walmart stores.
Guettler sued in 2019, charging that Hyper had used his image in promotions and packaging of SNAFU-branded BMX accessories after the expiration of an endorsement agreement. The original suit named Hyper and Walmart, but SNAFU, Inc., Clay Goldsmid (the founder of Hyper), and Todson, Inc. were later added.
The action is dismissed with prejudice on all claims, with each party bearing its own attorney’s fees and costs, according to a Thursday. A counterclaim by Todson was previously dismissed.
A May trial date had been delayed to at least September due to COVID delays. The day before Guettler filed his stipulation of dismissal with the court, which all parties agreed to, U.S. District Court Judge Dale Fischer had sanctioned all parties $500 each because they missed a May 10 deadline to provide proposed trial and pretrial conference dates to the court.
"This is at least the second time this Court's orders concerning trial-related issues have been ignored," Fischer wrote in a docket entry on Wednesday, adding that the fines were due by June 1, and that if proposed dates were not provided by June 1 he would impose further sanctions that could include dismissal of the case.
