Mistrial announced in lawsuit with former “Desperate Housewives” actress

Disputes between employers and employees are a relatively common occurrence in the entertainment industry. Other businesses also experience a fair share of disagreements, as any Phoenix business attorney can attest to.

In March 2012, actress Nicollette Sheridan – who previously played a role on "Desperate Housewives" – filed a lawsuit against the creator of the show, Marc Cherry, and the ABC company. Sheridan accused the show of killing off her character and eliminating her acting job because of her complaint regarding Cherry's physical assault against her during a rehearsal for the show, according to CNN Entertainment.

On Monday, March 19, a judge announced a mistrial of this court case. The jury did not have a unanimous decision after deliberating for three days. With an 8-4 jury vote, the judge had no choice but to declare a mistrial, as a minimum of nine jurors must come to the same conclusion.

Some of the jurors sided with Sheridan because they felt that the witnesses for ABC were not credible enough and that some of the stories were scripted. ABC executives also claimed that the hit during rehearsal was only a "light tap" meant to illustrate a form of physical comedy that Cherry wanted Sheridan to incorporate in her character. Sheridan, however, alleges that Cherry struck her because he was irritated with her work.

"Although the show's line producer reported the hitting incident to the studio's human resources department, there was no investigation until an ABC senior executive saw a National Enquirer story about it at a grocery store two months later, according to testimony," Alan Duke wrote in a March 20 article for the news source.

In Arizona, companies dealing with allegations centered around terminations should speak to a business lawyer in Phoenix.

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