It’s been a weirdly Tim Allen-centric time in the news this week, with the Last Man Standing star recently tuning up some high-octane trouble for himself by comparing the plight of Hollywood conservatives to people living in Nazi Germany. Now, Deadline reports that Allen’s old TV haunt, Home Improvement, is making some headlines of its own, with a California court re-opening a case in which the show’s producers are demanding more compensation from ABC and its owner, Disney.
Centered on the $1.5 billion Home Improvement brought in during its eight seasons on TV (plus syndication), the case was originally closed back in 2015, when a court ruled that producers Matt Williams, Carmen Finestra and David McFadzean had waited too long to make their claims (amounting to 75 percent of the show’s net profits, and a full accounting of its finances from Disney). That decision has now been overturned, though, with a California Appeals court exercising more power (insert hyper-masculine grunting here) to allow the producers their day in court.
“We conclude that there are triable issues of material fact as to whether Disney may be estopped from asserting the contractual limitations period as a defense to the producers’ claims,” wrote justice Laurie Zelon, presumably with a big stack of legal books obscuring the lower half of her face. Disney has yet to comment on the case, while lawyers for the show’s producers have expressed their joy at their second chance in court.