Chuck Norris settles $30 million lawsuit against CBS and Sony over ‘unpaid streaming profits’ from iconic show Walker, Texas Ranger
- The martial arts master and Hollywood legend, 83, alleged that Sony and CBS failed to pay more than $30 million in profits from Walker, Texas Ranger
- A lawsuit filed by Norris’s company, Top Kick Productions, in 2018 said the companies did not share profits that the show earned from streaming platforms
- Norris’s attorney told DailyMail.com that the dispute has now been resolved
Chuck Norris has settled a lawsuit against CBS and Sony over allegations his production company was owed more than $30 million in unpaid profits from Walker, Texas Ranger.
The martial arts master and Hollywood legend, 83, sued the firms through his company Top Kick Productions, alleging they didn’t share profits the show made through streaming platforms.
Walker, Texas Ranger starred Norris as Cordell Walker and aired eight seasons on CBS from September 1993 to May 2001. The smash hit show raked in hundreds of millions of dollars and aired in more than 100 countries, with episodes also available on streaming platforms.
A lawsuit filed in 2018 by attorneys for Top Kick said the company struck a deal with CBS, the show’s distributor, to pay Norris 23 percent of profits from Walker. The suit said the show had generated ‘over $692 million in revenue to date’.
Sony also had a ‘contractual duty’ to Norris’s company through its licensing and distribution agreement with CBS, the suit said.
Walker, Texas Ranger starred Norris as Cordell Walker and aired eight seasons on CBS from September 1993 to May 2001. Norris alleged that CBS and Sony owed his company, Top Kick Productions, more than $30 million in unpaid profits made through streaming platforms
The lawyers said Norris’s reputation, including his military service, martial arts career and Hollywood success, ‘resulted’ in CBS becoming the distributor of Walker
The 2018 law suit said the show had generated ‘over $692 million in revenue to date’
Norris’s lawyers alleged revenue generated through streaming services wasn’t paid as part of the ’23 Percent Clause’.
His attorneys wrote: ‘Top Kick does not know how much revenue Walker has generated through the [streaming] services. But, on information and belief, none of that revenue has been shared with Top Kick’.
The suit added: ‘The defendants have consciously sough to market, sell and distribute Walker in ways that are designed to collect significant fees and revenues from the ongoing exploitation of Walker without having to honor or pay Top Kick, and to instead materially breach the 23 Percent Profit Clause.’
Norris’s lawyers said ‘Top Kick has suffered damages exceeding $30 million’.
Top Kick asked for a jury trial in the case, filed at the California Superior Court, before it was settled through arbitration. The request to dismiss the case was filed on Friday.
John V. Berlinski, the attorney for Top Kick, told DailyMail.com on Tuesday that ‘the parties have resolved the dispute’.
He declined to disclose how much money was paid to Top Kick in the resolution.
Sony and CBS were approached for comment.
The initial complaint filed with the court had also offered a glowing biography of Norris, outlining his military service, success as a martial artist and subsequent Hollywood career.
Chuck Norris, pictured in May 2023 aged 83, is a black belt in several martial arts disciplines and was a world champion before forging a successful career in Hollywood
Lawyers for Norris also referred in court filings to the ‘Chuck Norris Facts’ internet phenomenon, which included memes which played on his ultra-tough reputation
Legal filings referred to the ‘Chuck Norris Facts’ phenomenon and said Norris ‘actively supported [and] embraced’ many of the memes it spawned
‘The discipline and success in serving his country and as a world champion martial artist also resulted in a positive and goal oriented approach to life and family,’ the attorneys wrote.
‘By the early 1990s, there were relatively few action stars with bona fide martial arts champion levels skills who also had a thirty-year history of service to country and to others, which led to the creation of Walker, a television show that relied on almost exclusively on the athletic, moral and spiritual approach to life that Chuck Norris has adopted.’
The lawyers said Norris’s reputation ‘resulted’ in CBS becoming the distributor of Walker.
The suit also made reference to the ‘Chuck Norris Facts’ online phenomenon, where internet users shared humorous quips about the star which played on his ultra-tough reputation.
The trend spawned memes with captions like: ‘death once had a near-Chuck Norris experience’ and ‘Chuck Norris has been exposed to the coronavirus, the virus is now in quarantine for the next two weeks’.
Source: Read Full Article
