The cast of ABC's hit sitcom Modern Family are suing producers 20th Century Fox Television after contract negotiations turned sour.
Cast members Ty Burrell, Julie Bowen, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet and Sofia Vergara have filed suit in a Los Angeles court in an attempt to void their contracts, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Ed O'Neill (Married with Children) is not part of the lawsuit, as he is paid more than the rest of the cast and is negotiating his new contract separately.
The lawsuit is likely to claim that the deals for the remaining cast members violate California's "7 Year Rule", which prohibits services contracts that last longer than seven years.
The breakdown in salary negotiations has resulted in a delay for today's scheduled start of the fourth season of Modern Family.
The cast's salary demands were previously revealed to be $200,000 per episode. The latest offer from the network is believed to be $150,000, with annual raises for each subsequent season.
It was also recently revealed that Sofia Vergara, who plays Gloria, is TV's highest paid actress, with a series of endorsements helping her to earn $19 million (£12.1m) between May 2011 and May 2012. SOURCE
i hope this doesn't end up having an effect on who does and doesn't appear in the next season
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The stars of "Modern Family" have reached new contracts to keep working on the Emmy-winning comedy, ending a dispute that had threatened to spill over into a courtroom.
A 20th Century Fox spokesman confirmed Friday evening that the deals had been reached and that shooting on the ABC series' fourth season will begin Monday.
The deals cover stars Sofia Vergara, Ed O'Neill, Julie Bowen, Ty Burrell, Eric Stonestreet and Jesse Tyler Ferguson.
Five of the actors sued Fox on Tuesday, asking a judge to rule their contracts on the Emmy-winning show are illegal and should be invalidated. O'Neill joined the case later in the week.
The lawsuit, which claimed the actors' contracts were illegal because they bound them to the show for more than seven years, will be dropped. Exact terms of the deal were not released.
"Modern Family," a popular comedy that airs on ABC, has won Emmy Awards for outstanding Comedy Series the past two years. Several of the stars, including Burrell, Bowen and Stonestreet have won individual Emmys for their work on the show.
The show was recently nominated for 14 Emmy Awards, the most of any sitcom.
at them trying to pull off a Friends 
I don't even know what I would do with that kind of money.
