A former model on “The Price is Right” and the show’s producers reached a settlement in her lawsuit alleging they discriminated against her by not allowing her to return after her pregnancy, thus avoiding a retrial of her claims.
Brandi Cochran’s attorneys filed papers last Friday with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Dalila Corral Lyons stating that the case was resolved. No terms were divulged.
In March 2013, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kevin Brazile said he was overturning a jury verdict awarding Cochran $8.5 million.
He cited a state Supreme Court ruling handed down two months after Cochran won her case that supported the defense’s argument that he should have instructed the jury to determine whether pregnancy discrimination was a “substantial motivating factor” in the producers’ decision not to allow her to rejoin the model cast.
Brazile said he denied the instruction in accordance with the law at the time. He also said the close 9-3 decision showed how divided the jury was.
In its November 2012 decision, the jury gave Cochran $775,000 in compensatory damages and $7.7 million in punitive damages.
Cochran, now 45, became pregnant in 2008 and said she was turned down when she attempted to return from maternity leave in early 2010. The producers denied her allegations and said they were satisfied with the five-member model pool working with host Drew Carey at the time.
Cochran, who worked as a model on the program from 2002 until January 2009, maintained that show officials talked about her in glowing terms before she became an expectant mother and would still be on the show if she had not become pregnant.
Cochran said after she told her employers in December 2008 that she was expecting twins, the producers treated her differently. She says they made remarks about her weight gain and her eating habits and removed her from the show’s website.
Cochran’s son was stillborn in February 2009 and her daughter was born prematurely a month later. She said she asked to return to the show, but was told by then-producer Kathy Greco in February 2010 that she was not being invited back.
Cochran is the only woman to have ever held the titles of Miss USA and Miss Teen USA.
—Staff and wire reports