Alongside the widow of Turner & Hooch producer Raymond Wagner and a specialized accounting service, actor Richard Dreyfuss has filed a lawsuit against the Walt Disney Company regarding profit payouts for the films What About Bob? and Turner and Hooch.
With a complaint the studio is refusing to let a specialist auditing firm, Robinson & Company Inc., look at their accounts, the three plaintiffs allege Disney is making is “exceedingly difficult for profit participants to retain the best possible representation and be paid the monies they are due.”
According to the complaint filed on Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Dreyfuss, Christine Wagner, and Robinson Inc., claim Disney prefers to use the “Big Four” accounting firms, but have not given any reason for their rejection of Robinson, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
The court filing claims: “What Disney has done is reduce an already very small pool of auditors to a nearly nonexistent puddle, and made it exceedingly difficult for profit participants to retain the best possible representation and be paid the monies they are due.”
The suit also questions studio accounting practices, industry-wide, and alleges there is a three-year wait to examine Disney’s accounting books, which, according to the plaintiffs is “inexcusable and outrageous”.
Per THR, Disney has previously stated that any such audit must be done “by a national firm of reputable CPA’s.”
The lawsuit responds:
Disney has not stated any basis for its conclusion that Robinson Inc. is not a nationally recognized firm… Apparently, no one can leave a ‘nationally recognized firm,’ and start out on his or her own without running afoul of Disney’s policy regarding the same. What Disney has done is reduce an already very small pool of auditors to a nearly non-existent puddle, and made it exceedingly difficult for profit participants to retain the best possible representation and be paid the monies they are due.
Robinson Inc. is described as a “tough” and “tenacious” firm that gets results,” which is why the studio has allegedly locked them out.
Mrs. Wagner claims she is entitled to 50 percent of Turner and Hooch’s net profits, and Robinson reportedly has fees at stake.
Dreyfuss starred in 1991’s What About Bob? Alongside Bill Murray, which had a domestic gross total of more than $63 million.
Read the court filling in its entirety:
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