A Los Angeles judge has urged Nicollette Sheridan to settle her lawsuit for wrongful termination from Desperate Housewives after ruling the actress will only be entitled to limited damages if she wins a court battle.

The star filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against show creator Marc Cherry last year, alleging he slapped her in the face after she expressed an opinion about a script he had written, and then fired her when she complained to producers.

Sheridan, who played sexy real estate dealer Edie Britt in the series, later amended the suit but still sought damages for wrongful termination and gender discrimination.

During a hearing at Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday, her attorney Patrick Maloney called for jurors to be allowed to consider whether Sheridan was entitled to wages for at least two extra seasons, but Judge Elizabeth Allen White ruled that the star could only seek damages for one year’s pay, which would total approximately $980,000, according to the Associated Press.

Judge White declared the show’s producers had discretion to eliminate Sheridan’s character and called for the star’s legal team to settle the case ahead of a trial, scheduled to begin in October.

She warned, “You’re going to spend a lot of money on this case.”

Source: WENN

Ranks as #1 Cable Movie of the Day Among HH and W25-54

2.9 million unduplicated viewers tuned in for the Saturday, August 13 premiere of Hallmark Channel Original Movie, ‘Honeymoon for One’, making it the day’s hottest destination on cable, ranking as the #1 ad-supported cable movie of the day among HH rating and W25-54.

‘Honeymoon for One’, starring Golden Globe® nominated Nicollette Sheridan (“Desperate Housewives”), also ranked #2 in its 9-11p time period among HH (1.7 rtg) and W25-54 (.8 rtg), while ranking as the #4 and #5 movie of the week among HH rating and W25-54, respectively.

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Variety reports Nicollette is part of the large cast of indie movie Jewtopia; starring Ivan Sergei, Jennifer Love Hewitt and David Joel Moore, alongside Tom Arnold, Jon Lovitz, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Rita Wilson, Wendie Malick, Camryn Manheim, Peter Stormare, Lin Shaye, Christine Lakin, Hayes MacArthur, Bree Turner and Everybody Loves Raymond creator Phil Rosenthal.

The movie is based on a book and an Off-Broadway play written by Bryan Fogel (who will also direct) and Sam Wolfson.

Described as a cross between Wedding Crashers and My Big Fat Greek Wedding, indie pic follows two childhood best friends who reunite as adults when one asks the other to help him pretend to be Jewish so he can romance a woman.

Sergei will play Christian O’Connell, a gentile plumber who poses as a Jewish doctor in order to land a Jewish girlfriend who’ll make all his decisions for him.

Hewitt will play Alison Marks, the object of Christian’s affection, who meets him during a singles mixer at temple.

Jewtopia opened in Los Angeles in May 2003 and, after 17 weeks, became the longest-running original comedy in the history of L.A. theater. Show opened off-Broadway in Sept. 2004 and is one of the three most successful off-Broadway productions of the last decade, along with Blue Man Group and Stomp.

Nicollette stopped this morning on Today Show’ Kathie Lee & Hoda (with Billy Bush filling in for Hoda) and said “That’s news to me” when asked about Cherry’s plans of bringing her back for the finale of ‘Desperate Housewives‘.

Bush pushed asking “If asked, would you come back?”

“I had an amazing time playing that character. I loved her dearly, but they killed her! She’s dead,” was her answer.

Bush mentioned she could be on a flashback or it’d be a dream she died.

“Is this turning into a daytime soap opera?” Sheridan deadpanned.

“In other words, she’s saying no!” said Gifford.

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Unless it is in the form of flashbacks (Brenda Strong has promised more flashbacks with her character), we know it isn’t possible that Edie comes back. And we’re all also aware of the off-screen drama going on but today at the ABC’s Television Critic Association Summer Press Tour, Cherry talked about his plans for the very last episode of the show.

As for specifics about the final season, Cherry hinted we may not have seen the last of Nicollette Sheridan’s Edie. “I don’t know how I would do that but I have an idea for the last episode in which I want to [pay] homage to everyone that’s been there before, you know, who’s been on the show, so we’ll see what happens with that.”

Are you in L.A. this week? You might want to stop by The Grove this Thursday.

“Extra” host Mario Lopez and his team are on location at popular L.A. shopping center The Grove from Monday to Friday.

Nicollette is scheduled this Thursday, July 28 at 3:00PM

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EDIT: Via Twitter, Extra has announced Nicollette will be today Wednesday, July 27 at The Grove at 3:00PM. Better check both days just in case.

I only have one question, why didn’t they allege this before?

Marc Cherry and Touchstone Television are asking a judge to throw out portions of Nicollette Sheridan’s lawsuit against them, RadarOnline.com is exclusively reporting.
In legal docs exclusively obtained by RadarOnline.com, lawyers for Cherry and Touchstone state that Sheridan can’t sue for wrongful termination and breach of contract, because she only had a one year contract that was in place, and that the option to renew it wasn’t utilized after the fifth season.

“Sheridan’s services were governed by – as they had been, year after year – a one year fixed term contract between Touchstone and Starlike, which gave Touchstone the option to renew Sheridan’s services for six additional one year-terms (or Seasons)…Sheridan had no more expectation of renewed employment for a sixth season than she had after the first season.”

In her original lawsuit Sheridan related a post-firing interview that Cherry gave where she alleges he noted that: “We will find a new kind of sexiness through Wisteria Lane. What we won’t do is cast another fortysomething sexy blonde.”

Cherry has always denied he and Sheridan had anything more than a verbal argument.

A hearing is set for July 26, to determine if Judge Elizabeth White will dismiss the breach of contract, and wrongful termination claims from Sheridan’s lawsuit. The case is expected to go to trial in the fall.

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Yesterday was again a small victory for Nicollette on her legal battle against Marc Cherry and Touchstone Television.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Allen White ruled against a defense motion to throw out claims on the lawsuit alleging wrongful termination in violation of public policy and breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. She said the motion was similar to the previous one she already rejected earlier this month; “it appears to be a motion for reconsideration and it is not well taken”.

Defense alleges the decision was made months prior to any incident ocurring on September 2008.

The trial, scheduled for June 8, has been delayed until October.

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Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Allen White has ruled a jury should decided if Nicollette Sheridan’s character was unfairly written out of the ABC hit show.

The Judge tossed aside a few of Sheridan’s claims but said there was enough of a dispute about what led to her ouster for the case to go to trial next month.

ABC and Cherry’s attorney argued that the decision to kill off Edie Britt was made months before her argument with Cherry. He said the decision was made by Cherry and a small group in May 2008 and kept from others on the show to avoid ruining the surprise.

Sheridan’s attorney said the network’s justification that it was a cost-cutting move didn’t make sense since Sheridan’s character was killed off in a car accident in the middle of the season and she was still owed hundreds of thousands of dollars on her contract.

After listening to several minutes of arguments about disputed facts in the case, White said, “It’s clear to the court that this is something that needs to go to a jury.”

Her ruling threw out sexual harassment and assault claims, but Sheridan’s attorneys will be able to seek damages on wrongful termination, battery and unlawful retaliation claims and can still seek punitive damages.

“I’m very happy that I’m being treated fairly,” Sheridan said after the hearing.

“We’re confident that a jury looking at all of the evidence and the numerous witnesses will conclude the character Edie Britt was killed off of ‘Desperate Housewives’ for lawful reasons and Ms. Sheridan was never battered,” Levin said after the hearing.

The trial is scheduled to begin June 8.

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Forget about June, The Futon Critic reports Nicollette’s new movie Honeymoon For One will be released on August 13 and will be on Hallmark Channel (not Hallmark Movie Channel).