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

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.”

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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Seems Nicollette is not alone, as former writer and executive producer on Desperate Housewives has stepped forward and supports Nicollette’s timeline that led to Edie’s fatal accident.

Emmy-winning TV producer Lori Kirkland Baker, who worked on the show from May 2007 to May 2009, submitted sworn declaration on April 9th saying she didn’t know Sheridan’s character would be eliminated until at least September 2008.

“In fall of 2008, Mr. Cherry began talking with the writing staff, myself included, about killing off the Edie Britt character, I have no recollection of any decision to kill off the Edie Britt character prior to fall of 2008.”

And around the time of the alleged Sheridan slap, says Kirkland Baker, “Mr. Cherry had expressed to the writers, in my presence, increasing frustration with Ms. Sheridan.” That led to a December meeting in which Cherry told the writing staff that he had met with then-ABC president Steve McPherson and had decided to kill off the Sheridan character at the end of Season 5, according to the declaration.

However, after Cherry returned from attending the inauguration party for President Obama in January 2009, “Mr. Cherry advised the writing staff that he’d changed his mind about the timing of Edie Britt’s death,” Kirkland Baker says. “Rather than waiting for the end of the season, he wanted to change course and, instead, have Edie Britt killed off much sooner.” The writer/producer says Cherry then instructed his staff that the character “was going to be killed off in one of the next episodes to be written and filmed.”

ABC lead lawyer Adam Levin declined to comment on the case. But the network’s counter to that argument is that Kirkland Baker simply wasn’t privy to the actual plans for the show until Cherry was prepared to go public. Indeed, in its motion, ABC says the fate of Sheridan’s character “was kept highly confidential to prevent leaks to the media and public.”

Still, Sheridan’s lawyers argue in their court papers that the testimony of such insiders as Kirkland Baker and another writer-producer, Jeffrey Greenstein, “show that Cherry decided to kill off Edie after the September 24, 2008 assault and after she complained to Touchstone.”

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It was a victory in court yesterday when Judge White ruled Nicollette doesn’t have to give further testimony of conversations with a lawyer she consulted before filing a lawsuit against Desperate Housewives‘ creator. Levin said he only wanted to ask the actress about those conversations with Meyer in which she asked him to tell officials at ABC Studios and Touchstone Television Productions what Cherry had allegedly done to her.

Los Angeles Superior Court rejected Cherry’s attorney Adam Levin’s claim that portions of the conversations were not protected by attorney client-privilege.; saying “I think it is a very extreme position to take.”

But defense attorneys recently filed papers asking the entire case to be dismissed, claiming Marc Cherry decided to kill off Edie Britt four months before the mentioned assault. On papers filed earlier this month Levin says “characters die on television series all the time (…) death is as much a part of scripted television as it is a part of life. Of course, whenever a character dies, an actor loses a job. That is what happened here.” And according to those papers, Cherry decided to eliminate Sheridan’s character in May 2008. “Cherry believed that the character had run its course and that her death would invigorate the show,” Levin’s papers also add Sheridan and the other actors were not told of the impending development until nine months later.

According to Levin, Sheridan’s assertion that her complaint that Cherry hit her in the head with an open hand in September 2008 led to her firing is undercut by the evidence of the earlier decision to eliminate her character from the show.”It is axiomatic that the termination decision in May (2008) could not have been motivated by any complaint that occurred on Sept. 24.”

The papers also challenge Sheridan’s claim she was struck hard by Cherry after she questioned him about a change in a script. He states an investigation by Touchstoen concluded he merely gave her “a light tap on the side of the head for the sole purpose of providing direction for a scene they were rehearsing” and that Cherry later apologized. The actress “never communicated to anyone that she believed Cherry hit her because of her sexual orientation, her age or her gender,” Levin’s court papers state. “Sheridan candidly admits that she does not know why Cherry hit her.” And that Sheridan was “obviously unhappy to lose her job as a highly compensated star of ‘Desperate Housewives‘.”

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According to TMZ, Nicollette has dropped her claims of discrimination and harassment based on sex, age and sexual orientation. But the case is not over, with claims of assault and battery and wrongful termination still on.

However, I know this and the previous stipulation have been submited to court by the defendants’s attorney and not Nicollette’s. Have these matters been resolved in private?

Different publications report Nicollette dropped the most explosive claim on her lawsuit against Marc Cherry and ABC. The stipulation filed Friday, Nicollette retracts her claim for intentional infliction of emotional disgress and won’t assert any claim for emotion or physical damages; the defense won’t make her undergo mental or physical examination.

Nicollette, who sued over alleged assault and battery, wrongful termination and sex and gender discrimination will proceed with the case pursuing lost wages, benefits and financial conmpensations. Sheridan states in the new papers that while those claims are still valid, she is removing them to streamline the case. The defense agreed and the case will move forward as planned.

Somehow I think this is a bad move for Nicollette as a lot of people will think she was lying (which I don’t, remember September 2008 and all the rumors online about her being slapped on set) but at the same time it’s good for both sides as it’ll be a hard point to prove for any of them. I do see a case for wrongful termination. I think going back to interviews in 2004 anyone could see how different, and sometimes disrespectfully, Marc Cherry talks about Nicollette; how her exit from the show was rushed and only lasted 2 episodes: 5.18 and 5.19; and for budget reasons: 6 different actors were hired full time the following season.
We haven’t heard the end of this and if the case goes to court as planned, we’ll have to wait a little longer.

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UPDATE: As you know, all reports claim that Nicollette filed an amend on Friday, whoever I can’t find any track of that but an stipulation and order (about that issue) filed by the Defendant this Monday. As Linda Sharps from The Stir says, if he was truly innocent would the defense be so eager to drop their demands? She also asks why Nicollette did it, if it was difficult to prove any emotional or physical damages after all this time or if it’ll cause her more distress.