{"id":368625,"date":"2026-03-05T05:25:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T05:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/368625\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T05:25:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T05:25:08","slug":"matlocks-david-del-rio-cbs-go-to-arbitration-over-firing-sex-assault-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/368625\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Matlock’s David Del Rio & CBS Go To Arbitration Over Firing, Sex Assault Claims"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tDavid Del Rio<\/a> isn\u2019t taking his sudden firing last year <\/a>from CBS\u2019 Matlock<\/a> over sexual assault allegations without a fight.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe actor \u201chas initiated arbitration against CBS Studios to address false and misleading allegations that caused substantial professional and reputational harm,\u201d Del Rio\u2019s lawyer Shawn Holley said today of the behind closed door process with the Matlock producer.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAt the arbitration, Mr. Del Rio will present real-time text communications and evidence that directly contradicts prior public characterizations of the interaction at issue,\u201d the Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump & Aldisert partner added. \u201cThis evidence was not fully considered before adverse employment action was taken. Mr. Del Rio looks forward to resolving this matter through the appropriate legal forum and has faith that a full evidentiary review will establish the truth and restore his professional reputation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tInstigated today, the arbitration will be overseen by mediators from JAMS.<\/p>\n

\n\tCBS Studios declined to comment, on the arbitration move or the status of the investigations over Del Rio. However, they did reiterate that Del Rio \u201chas departed the series.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tDel Rio was fired in October last year after alleged September 26 incident involved fellow\u00a0Matlock\u00a0series regular Leah Lewis. A report of the incident, which we hear happened in Lewis\u2019 trailer on the Matlock set, started an internal investigation. The same day the alleged assault was reported and the probe started, Del Rio was canned and personally escorted off the Paramount<\/a> lot where the Kathy Bates-led series films.<\/p>\n

\n\tBefore today\u2019s move by Del Rio, the actor participated in an investigation by the Paramount owned CBS Studios into what allegedly occurred on the show last fall. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe most recent such sit-down, part of a supplemental investigation, saw Del Rio, accompanied by newly hired lawyer Holley, reinterviewed around Thanksgiving <\/a>by\u00a0Matlock\u00a0producer\u00a0CBS Studios<\/a>. Following the secondary stage of the investigation, CBS Studios stuck by their decision that Del Rio was off Matlock and his character written out of the show ASAP. <\/p>\n

\n\tAlso as a result of the further probe, the claims of sexual assault against the married Del Rio were revamped to \u201cunwanted sexual conduct,\u201d I hear. CBS Studios had no comment on that change when contacted by Deadline. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David Del Rio isn\u2019t taking his sudden firing last year from CBS\u2019 Matlock over sexual assault allegations without…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":368626,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[268],"tags":[170825,434,170826,18,117,19,17,16570,5997],"class_list":["post-368625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-cbs-studios","tag-celebrities","tag-david-del-rio","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-matlock","tag-paramount"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116174908686470906","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=368625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368625\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/368626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=368625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=368625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=368625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}