Universal Studios Settles Royalties Suit with Glen Larson

A settlement was reached in a lawsuit filed against Universal City Studios Productions Inc. by the company created by the late producer of such television series as “Knight Rider,” and “Six Million Dollar Man” concerning the studio’s accounting practices.

The lawsuit alleged Glen Larson Productions Inc. was owed millions of dollars in profits from his shows. Larson Productions’ lawyers filed court papers with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Yvette Palazuelos on Wednesday stating that the longtime case was resolved.

The suit was filed in July 2011, but the Long Beach-born Larson did not live to see the resolution. He died of cancer in Santa Monica in November 2014 at age 77.

No terms of the settlement were divulged.

Lawyers for Universal denied any wrongdoing on the studio’s part. In their court papers, they said Larson claimed in his personal bankruptcy filings that his “backend interests” from the shows “were worthless at the time of his bankruptcy.”

The lawsuit alleged that contracts Larson signed with Universal in 1975 and 1978 entitled him to a percentage of net profits from the series he produced for the studio, along with merchandising and other contingent compensation. Even though the series have continued to generate revenue for Universal, the studio never sent Larson Productions an accounting statement showing Larson was entitled to profits from most of the shows, the suit alleged.

In September, Palazuelos denied a Universal motion to dismiss the plaintiff’s accounting claims as well as those for fraud and negligent misrepresentation.

--City News Service, photo via Wiki Commons