E*Trade Won't Roll Over for Lohan Suit

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- E*Trade Financial (ETFC) plans to "vigorously" defend itself against a lawsuit filed by actress Lindsay Lohan that alleges that one of the famed talking babies in commercial for the online broker was named after her.

While the company doesn't typically comment on pending litigation, the high level of interest in the celebrity lawsuit caused E*Trade to issue a statement.

"With the E*Trade Baby, our advertising campaign is meant to be witty and memorable, while effectively communicating the powerful investing tools and services offered by E*Trade," the company said in an e-mail to TheStreet on Thursday. "We believe the claims are without merit and we intend to defend ourselves vigorously in this case."

The New York Post first reported the lawsuit on Tuesday, saying Lohan, who starred in movies such as Mean Girls and Freaky Friday was seeking damages of $100 million from E*Trade for pain and suffering.

In the advertisement, which you can see here: the so-called "milkaholic" boyfriend-stealing baby is named Lindsay. The commercial first aired during the Super Bowl.

In its article, the Post said Lohan's lawyer is positing that the 23-year-old actress is recognizable by only her first name much like Oprah and Madonna and says that E*Trade has "garnered great profits" from the millions who watched the commercial.

In other E*Trade news this week, the company said Wednesday at an investor conference that the "preferred candidate" for its CEO position -- currently occupied on an interim basis by Robert Druskin -- was no longer in the running, and that the search would continue.

Shares closed flat on Thursday at $1.67 on volume of 25 million shares.

-- Written by Laurie Kulikowski in New York.

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