Lisa Kudrow Was Forced To Dish Out Over $1.6 Million After Losing A Case Involving Her Residuals Fro
Highlights
- Lisa Kudrow lost a court battle against her former manager and was ordered to pay $1.6 million in residuals from her time on Friends.
- Friends faced other lawsuits, including a sexual harassment lawsuit that was ultimately dismissed by the California Supreme Court.
- Matt LeBlanc, like Kudrow, also faced a lawsuit from his former manager after Friends ended, but the outcome of the case is unclear.
The cast of Friends made a fortune on the show. The main six were making $1 million per episode. However, making such a salary created some dilemmas behind the scenes. That was the case with Matt LeBlanc who was sued by his former manager. As it turns out, the same situation took place with Lisa Kudrow.
In the following, we're going to take a closer look at why Kudrow was sued by her former manager, and how she lost the court battle. In addition, we'll take a look at other related lawsuits to Friends, one of which took place with Matt LeBlanc and his former manager. While another lawsuit dealt with a harassment claim that allegedly took place behind the scenes.
Let's take a closer look at the court case, and why Kudrow was on the losing side.
Lisa Kudrow Was Ordered To Pay $1.6 Million In Residuals To Her Manager
Back in 2014, Friends star Lisa Kudrow lost $1.6 million in a lawsuit against her former manager.
According to the claims, Kudrow owed her former manager money in residuals from her time on Friends.
ABC writes, "A verdict has been reached in the civil lawsuit filed against Lisa Kudrow by her former manager, who claims he is owed residuals from her days on "Friends."
"A 10-2 decision was reached in favor of Scott Howard, who was Kudrow's manager from 1991 to 2007, saying the actress was liable for breach of contract, KABC reports."
The conflict between the two sides began in 2008, a year after the two stopped working together. Kudrow had refused to pay her agent $50,000 from fees. The manager made the claim that the two had an oral agreement for him to get 10% of Kudrow's earnings.
- Lisa Kudrow's current net worth is estimated to be at $130 million.
Kudrow's attorney argued, "The jury’s verdict is merely one step in the legal process. This case ultimately will be resolved at the appellate level. Ms. Kudrow has faith in the judicial system, and she believes that the eventual outcome of this contractual dispute will be in her favor."
Ultimately, Kudrow's team was on the wrong end, and she was forced to fork over $1.6 million from the lawsuit.
It Wasn't The Only Time Friends Faced A Lawsuit
Friends had other problems arise behind the scenes. However, this specific case was dismissed by the California Supreme Court. The court case was dealing with a sexual harassment lawsuit that apparently took place behind the scenes.
The LA Times writes, "The California Supreme Court threw out a sexual harassment lawsuit against the makers of the hit comedy “Friends” on Thursday, ruling that vulgar and coarse comments by the show’s writers reflected the “creative workplace” for a comedy with sexual themes."
"In ruling unanimously for Warner Bros. Television Productions, the state high court said the show’s writers did not direct their lewd comments at the woman who sued them or at women particularly. State law “does not outlaw sexually coarse and vulgar language or conduct that merely offends,” Justice Marvin R. Baxter wrote for the court."
It wouldn't be the last of lawsuits surrounding Friends and in fact, Matt LeBlanc faced something similar to what Lisa Kudrow faced after firing her manager.
Matt LeBlanc Was Also Sued By His Manager Once Friends Came To An End
Following his time on Friends and Joey, Matt LeBlanc put his career on hold. The actor didn't want to know anything about acting gigs, despite the requests he was getting at the time.
As it turns out, his former agent Camille Cerio wasn't content with how the profits were shared. LeBlanc was sued for $1 million by his ex-manager.
Business Insider writes, "Former Friends star Matt LeBlanc is heading to court after allegedly failing to pay his former business manager $1 million (GBP500,000). Camille Cerio is suing the actor for breach of contract and claims he owes her commission for managing his career."
"LeBlanc maintains he has paid Cerio more than $200,000 (GBP100,000) in payments, but in a lawsuit filed at Los Angeles Superior Court earlier this month (2Jul08), Cerio claims the amount is nothing compared to his royalties from Friends and spin-off Joey. Cerio claims that LeBlanc agreed to cut her 15 percent from all the pilots, but stopped paying her in 2000."
Unlike Lisa Kudrow was forced to pay her former manager, it doesn't seem like LeBlanc was found guilty of the claims. There wasn't any type of resolution posted online to the court case - which means the case was either dropped completely, or that a settlement was reached outside of court.
It is clear, former managers wanted a chunk of the success from Friends, especially given the massive contracts negotiated by the cast.
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