LOS ANGELES -- Two former producers of the 'Valerie' television series filed a $20 million libel and slander suit Thursday against the former star of the show, Valerie Harper.
Thomas Miller and Robert Boyett, who produced the television show from March 1, 1985, to April 1987, claim in the Los Angeles Superior Court suit that Harper accused them in nationally broadcast television shows of lying and perjury.
Harper and Lorimar Productions have suits pending against each other over Harper leaving the show, which has been renamed 'Valerie's Family.' Harper contends she was wrongfully fired from the series, while Lorimar contends she breached her contract by walking off the show.
A trial on Harper's suit tentatively has been set for April 20.
Miller and Boyett's suit was filed by lawyer Donald Engel, who also is representing Lorimar in their suits against Harper.
The producers' suit alleges Harper, in an Oct. 2, 1987, interview on the 'Regis Philbin Morning Show' on WABC-TV in New York, said the producers, without naming them, 'robbed me of my show.'
'And to compound it, they lied publicly and constantly to the papers and to the news, saying I left, that I couldn't work out the money,' the suit quoted Harper as saying.
The suit also alleges that Harper, in a nationally broadcast CNN program, 'Larry King Live,' on Dec. 3, 1987, said she 'really felt stabbed in the back' by her 'two partners, people I loved and counted on to be close friends.'
'My three friends, alleged friends, wrote declarations and literally perjured themselves about my behavior that Friday, the day that I filmed the show,' the suit quoted Harper as saying, referring to the last day she was on the set.
The suit said Harper's remarks were false and that she made her statements 'intentionally, willfully and maliciously for the purpose of publicly defaming and discrediting the plaintiffs.'
