A judge has declared a mistrial in Nicollette Sheridan’s wrongful termination lawsuit against the network ABC.
Reports say that the jury has been ruled “hopelessly deadlocked” on the civil case over Sheridan’s alleged mistreatment on the set of the series “Desperate Housewives.” While the jury had arrived at an 8-4 vote on Friday, Judge Elizabeth Allen White had asked jurors to keep an “open mind” when continuing deliberations. However, after resuming discussions today, the jury was not able to reach the nine vote mark needed to decide a civil case in the state of California.
Sheridan had charged that “Desperate Housewives” creator Marc Cherry slapped her when she expressed concern about a scene in the fall of 2008. Sheridan alleged that her character, Edie Britt, was soon after written off the show.
However, the judge had dismissed those charges against Cherry last week, citing lack of evidence. While Cherry admitted to “tapping” Sheridan to show her what he wanted in the scene, Sheridan’s lawyers were not able to prove that the contact was battery. However, the case had remained open on whether Sheridan’s contract with ABC was dropped following the incident. Cherry had held that the fate of Sheridan’s character had been determined months before the altercation in question.
While the case has been ruled a mistrial, Sheridan’s lawyer says that she plans to soldier on with the suit.
“You’d think we’d be disappointed but we’re not,” Sheridan’s attorney, Mark Baute, said during a press conference, reports E! News. “We got our story out there. We went up against a 50-million-dollar conglomerate who had 10 witnesses, and eight jurors said, ‘No, I’m not buying what you’re selling.'”