Jeff Franklin Settles ‘Fuller House’ Fight

Ashley Cullins
·2 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Nearly a year after an L.A. judge dismissed Jeff Franklin’s lawsuit over his Fuller House firing, he has voluntarily dismissed his appeal and reached a deal with Bryan Behar to also resolve their dispute over attorney’s fees.

Franklin in April 2019 sued Behar alleging the showrunner orchestrated his ouster. He had been removed from Fuller House in February 2018 amid complaints about his behavior, but he claimed Behar fabricated and twisted information and gave it to the media and Warner Bros. to get him thrown off the show.

More from The Hollywood Reporter

Behar responded with an anti-SLAPP motion, which are intended to bring an early end to frivolous claims arising from protected activity like free speech. If a defendant prevails, typically they are awarded attorney’s fees and the plaintiff has an automatic right to an appeal. The showrunner argued that Warners approached him, not the other way around, and his comments about Franklin were “indisputably” activity in furtherance of his right of free speech — and that, if he had talked to the press (he denied doing so), that would have been protected by the First Amendment too.

L.A. County Superior Court Judge Craig Karlan in January 2023 granted Behar’s anti-SLAPP motion, finding that it involved a matter of free speech on an issue of public interest and that Franklin had presented “insufficient evidence that Behar was a substantial factor” in his termination. Franklin appealed shortly thereafter.

Behar was seeking an award of more than $815,000 in attorney’s fees, which Franklin was challenging as excessive and trying to convince the court to deny entirely. They continued to trade barbs in filings until October when the parties asked the court to delay a fee hearing because they were working to determine “whether their respective clients would be interested in participating in private mediation to pursue a potential resolution of their dispute.”

On Dec. 15, Franklin voluntarily dismissed his appeal and also informed the L.A. court that they’ve reached a settlement. Details of the agreement are not currently public.

Best of The Hollywood Reporter