Chuck Norris delivers top kick to CBS in 'Walker, Texas Ranger' earnings battle

CBS is unlikely to utter the words "thank you Chuck Norris" anytime soon after handing some dough from Walker, Texas Ranger to the octogenarian action star.

More than five years after Norris sued the network and studio for more than $30 million in profits from the eight-plus seasons of the proceedings, attorneys and spokespersons for both parties say "the parties have resolved the dispute."

CBS and Norris' attorney John V. Berlinski are as tight-lipped about the confidential settlement as terse Sergeant Cordell Walker himself, Norris pocketed a good amount of money in the end, I hear.

Sony Pictures TV was originally a defendant in the breach of contract lawsuit filed on January 31, 2018, but the studio lost last year.

Litigation during the darkest days of the pandemic and with arbitration, Norris' Top Kick Productions original complaint alleged that Sony and CBS engaged in "personal dealings" that "cost Top Kick millions of dollars in past and future licensing fees." With estimates that the series has grossed over $692 million since its 1993 debut, the filing claims that "defendants knowingly sought to market, sell, and distribute Walker so as to collect substantial fees and revenues from the continued operation of Walker but without having to honor or pay Top Kick, and materially breach the 23% profit clause.

These profit woes are nothing new in Hollywood's decades of shrewd (to put it politely) accounting or the age of streaming. As in the case of the WGA's ultimately victorious packaging fight with the agencies last year, the courts have proven the most effective route to resolution or, as in the Norris case, moving towards an agreement.

Stating that his reputation was part of the reason CBS chose Walker in the first place, Norris was seeking at least $30 million from the network and Sony for the revenue they made through the streaming platforms and more - a position that likely resonates strongly with striking scribes and actors who seek larger residuals and other financial compensation for their work on these platforms.

To this end, Norris' Bird, Marella, Boxer, Wolpert, Nessim, Drooks, Lincenberg & Rhow, P.C. attorney Berlinski filed for dismissal with prejudice in ...