CBS, ‘Happy Days’ Actors Settle Lawsuit Over Merchandising Fees
UPDATE: This afternoon CBS issued the following statement on the settlement with Happy Days actors Marion Ross, Erin Moran, Anson Williams, Don Most and the widow of Tom Bosley.
The case has been settled. All contractual obligations will be honored, as we had promised from the beginning. We appreciate the Court’s earlier dismissal of the far-reaching claims, which paved the way for an ordinary settlement based on contractual issues.
PREVIOUS: Just 11 days before they were to go to trial, CBS and Happy Days’ actors Marion Ross, Erin Moran, Anson Williams and Don Most, plus the widow of Tom Bosley, have reached at settlement in the actors’ merchandising lawsuit. Sources tell Deadline that the actors will receive between $60,000 and $65,000 each. The actors, who played Mrs. C., Joanie, Potsie and Ralph on Happy Days, sued CBS last year for $10 million. Henry Winkler and Ron Howard, who played the Fonz and Ritchie Cunningham on Happy Days, were not a part of the lawsuit. CBS distributes the iconic 70s TV series. The actors filed their multimillion-dollar breach of contract complaint on April 19, 2011 (read it here) after a friend told Ross about Happy Days-themed slot machines she noticed at a casino. Ross and the other actors contacted CBS about them and the use of their images on them. As it wound it’s way through the courts, the suit eventually became about the actor’s likeness on DVD boxsets. Ross, Moran, Williams and Most are represented by Pfeiffer of Santa Monica’s Pfeiffer Thigpen FitzGibbon & Ziontz.
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