‘INEXPLICABLE’

Mattel Left UCLA Children’s Hospital High and Dry After $49M Pledge: Lawsuit

The toymaker said it backtracked on its donation promise because it was specifically intended for the construction of a tower that was later scrapped.

Mattel is being sued by the California pediatric hospital that bears its name after backing out of a $49 million donation, according to a lawsuit filed last week. The breach-of-contract complaint, obtained by the Los Angeles Times, outlines how the toymaker allegedly made “the inexplicable decision a few short years later to renege” on its 2017 pledge to the UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital. The suit claims that Mattel subsequently committed to donating just a few million dollars—while throwing in some Mattel toys, like Barbies and Hot Wheels cars, for good measure. “Litigation is not the university’s preferred path,” a UCLA Health spokesperson told the Times. “UCLA Health made multiple good-faith attempts to resolve this matter through meaningful dialogue, and those efforts were unsuccessful.” In a statement, Mattel said that it had not breached a contract with the hospital, saying its donation was earmarked specifically for the planned construction of a new hospital tower that was later “unilaterally abandoned” by UCLA.