Touchstone Television Productions v. Superior Court
Opinion
Lead Opinion
Willhite, J.
INTRODUCTION
Touchstone Television Productions (Touchstone) hired actress Nicollette Sheridan (Sheridan) to appear in the first season of the television series Desperate Housewives. The agreement gave Touchstone the exclusive option to renew Sheridan’s services on an annual basis for an additional six seasons. Touchstone renewed Sheridan’s services up to and including season 5. During season 5, Touchstone informed Sheridan it would not renew her contract for season 6.
Insofar as is relevant to this writ proceeding, Sheridan sued Touchstone for wrongful termination in violation of public policy. Sheridan alleged that Touchstone had fired her because she had complained about a battery allegedly committed upon her by Desperate Housewives's creator Marc Cherry (Cherry). The jury deadlocked on this claim and the trial court declared a mistrial. Touchstone moved for a directed verdict, contending that it had not terminated Sheridan, but rather had simply not renewed her contract for an additional season. The trial court denied the motion.
Touchstone petitioned this court for extraordinary relief. We stayed the pending retrial and issued an alternative writ of mandate. Having…