The prime-time soap ‘Desperate Housewives’ is long gone from nighttime TV, but a real-life soap-like battle continued Tuesday when an appellate court panel overturned a lower court judge’s dismissal of actress Nicollette Sheridan’s lawsuit alleging she was assaulted by “Desperate Housewives” creator Marc Cherry and written out of the show when she complained.
She had played the role of Edie Britt before her character was killed off in the show.
In a unanimous, 13-page opinion written by Justice Thomas Willhite, the three-justice panel of the 2nd District Court of Appeal concluded that Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Stern erred when he issued a ruling in favor of Touchstone Television and against the 51-year-old actress.
The ruling clears the way for a retrial of her case. The first trial ended with a hung jury three years ago.
In September 2014, Stern found that Sheridan failed to present her grievances to the state Labor Commission within six months of the alleged September 2008 on-set incident, and he tossed the actress’ case. The state appeals court justices concluded Stern’s decision was incorrect.
“The sole issue on appeal is whether Sheridan was required to exhaust her administrative remedies …, Willhite wrote. “We conclude that she was not required to do so and therefore reverse.”
In the first trial, a jury in March 2012 deadlocked 8-4 in favor of Sheridan on her wrongful termination claim. But six months later, the 2nd District Court of Appeal found that Judge Elizabeth Allen White should have granted Touchstone’s motion for a directed verdict and dismissed the wrongful termination action.
The justices said that although the actress could not have a retrial of her wrongful termination claim, she could revise her complaint and make a claim under a section of the state Labor Code protecting employees from being fired or threatened with firing if they complain about workplace safety.
Cherry maintained in a sworn declaration that he met with other show writers in May 2008 to ponder upcoming story lines and they discussed whether to eliminate the Edie Britt role, played by Sheridan.
Cherry said he needed and eventually obtained the permission of Touchstone’s then-president, Mark Pedowitz, as well as that of ABC programming chief Steven McPherson, to write the Britt character out of the series. The meetings with Pedowitz, McPherson and the show’s producers were held in confidential settings, he says.
After exploring various ways to have Britt “killed,” Cherry and the producers ultimately decided she would lose her life in a car accident, he said.
Sheridan was told of the plans to eliminate her character in meeting with Cherry and the producers in February 2009, he said.
— City News Service