The St. Louis, MO-based law firm of Carey, Danis and Lowe recently filed suit in St. Louis Circuit Court on behalf of Rahanna Bisseret Martinez, a young chef who was featured on Top Chef Junior in 2017.
The show featured 12 young chefs who competed in a fashion similar to that of the popular culinary show Top Chef, which features adult competitors.
STL barrister Jack Garvey, one of the attorneys listed as representing Martinez, said his firm picked up the case through a relationship it has with a Los Angeles firm.
The suit claims that Nickelodeon, a ViacomCBS International Inc. company, used Martinez's likeness without her permission.
Martinez, now 17, is an Oakland, California, native but Garvey said that since the show was aired in the STL market, the courts there are an acceptable venue for filing the suit.
The other local lawyers listed on Martinez's side are Jeffrey Lowe and Paul Maddock.
Martinez made it to the finals of the show, which aired in early 2018. She then was the subject of several features, including articles in the Los Angeles Times, Food & Wine magazine and several YouTube videos.
The suit claims that Nickelodeon created an animated series in 2019 about the adventures of young chefs.
The show, Middle School Moguls, included a character that bore a resemblance to Martinez — including making references to the character's Haitian heritage and being clothed in an outfit similar to the one worn by Martinez on Top Chef Junior.
Airing during fall 2019, Middle School Moguls was a series of animated specials that chronicled the ambitions of four new friends striving to create their own companies while attending Mogul Academy, an entrepreneurial school where kid-business dreams come true.
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| Rahanna Martinez, left, and animated character from "Middle School Moguls." (Photos from lawsuit filed in St. Louis Circuit Court) |
The suit alleges that Nickelodeon "made no offer to Ms. Martinez and never licensed any rights to her likeness for use in the series."
The claim asks for a minimum of $25,000 on each of the three counts: two instances of invasion of privacy and one claim of unfair competition.
ViacomCBS officials could not be reached for comment, reports STLtoday.com.
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