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Judge Dismisses Nicollette Sheridan’s “Desperate Housewives” Lawsuit

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By Teresa Lo

Posted on January 24, 2017

Desperate Housewives was a monster hit for ABC that aired from 2004 to 2012. Photo courtesy of ABC.

Summary: A judge has dismissed Nicollette Sheridan’s unsafe workplace lawsuit against ABC and Touchstone Pictures.

This week, a judge finally ended the long-standing legal dispute between actress Nicollette Sheridan and the TV series Desperate Housewives. Sheridan claimed that the set of the hit ABC drama was an unsafe work environment, but the court found no evidence of her allegations.

The lawsuit centered around an alleged heated altercation between Sheridan and the show’s creator, Marc Cherry. She said that in 2008 he slapped her across the face during an argument on set and he apologized for the incident later. He claimed that he was demonstrating for a scene. She said that her lawyer notified the show’s production company Touchstone Television of the assault but that she did not request any type of reprimand.

Shortly after the fight, Sheridan said she was retaliated against when Cherry killed off her character Edie, essentially firing her. The show responded that her character was removed because of a lack of storylines.

Sheridan was a part of the original cast of the show, which aired from 2004 to 2012. Sheridan starred along with actresses Eva Longoria, Marcia Cross, Felicity Huffman, and Teri Hatcher; and her character was killed in season five.

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In 2010, Sheridan sued Cherry, ABC, Disney, and Touchstone for wrongful termination; and her case went to a jury trial but ended in a mistrial.

Sheridan filed another lawsuit stating that Touchstone violated labor regulations that allow for employees to seek damages if wrongly terminated, threatened, or discriminated against for whistleblowing against unsafe work conditions. Touchstone said the lawsuit was without merit because Sheridan had never filed a formal complaint and that the decision to kill off her character was made before the Cherry fight.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Holly Kendig sided with the show’s camp, stating that Sheridan did not raise the issue of lack of safety beforehand.

“In the end, Sheridan provides no evidence that she communicated to Touchstone that she feared for her safety on the set or that she requested any specific safety or security measures that she wanted Touchstone to implement,” Judge Kendig said. “Further, there is no substantial evidence that Sheridan reasonably believed her working conditions were unsafe.”