{"id":1596,"date":"2003-07-07T07:13:49","date_gmt":"2003-07-07T07:13:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.paymeovertime.com\/?p=197"},"modified":"2003-07-07T07:13:49","modified_gmt":"2003-07-07T07:13:49","slug":"not-renewing-a-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/not-renewing-a-contract\/","title":{"rendered":"Desperate Housewives Contract Ends, Wrongful Termination is Alleged"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3734 size-full\" title=\"Photo Credit: Shutterstock\/Photographee.eu\" src=\"https:\/\/www.californialaborlaw.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Photographee.eu_-e1575617358176.jpg\" alt=\"Construction worker hurt on the job and laying on his back in a ditch\" width=\"500\" height=\"334\" \/><\/p>\n<p>If you are a fan of Desperate Housewives, you might remember when during the show&#8217;s fifth season, Edie Williams, played by actress Nicollette Sheridan, is electrocuted to death following a car accident. Sheridan filed a wrongful termination suit against Touchstone Television Pictures (&#8220;Touchstone&#8221;), Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry (&#8220;Cherry&#8221;), and several other parties (who have since been dismissed), proposing that her on-screen death and Touchstone&#8217;s failure to renew her fixed-term employment contract were equivalent to a wrongful termination in violation of public policy under California law. When Sheridan was first hired she and Touchstone executed an agreement which paid Sheridan a reported $175,000 per episode to start and gave Touchstone the exclusive option to renew the contract on an annual basis for six seasons. Touchstone chose to renew the contract for Seasons 2 through 5, but let Sheridan know during Season 5 that they would not be renewing for Season 6. In Sheridan&#8217;s lawsuit she believed that Touchstone&#8217;s decision was the result of a complaint she made against Cherry for allegedly intentionally hitting her during the filming of the show. She also filed a separate claim of battery, where the courts found in favor of Touchstone and Cherry.<\/p>\n<p>At the end of the trial (during which Sheridan, in response to questioning about why she sometimes stated she was &#8220;slapped&#8221; by Cherry and at other times claimed she was &#8220;violently hit,&#8221; retorted, &#8220;I don&#8217;t know why they&#8217;re different! You are such a stickler for details!&#8221;), the jury deadlocked on the wrongful termination cause of action and a mistrial was declared. The court denied a motion for a directed verdict brought by Touchstone, which argued that Sheridan&#8217;s employment had not been terminated but, rather, that Touchstone had simply elected not to exercise its option to renew her contract. In<a href=\"http:\/\/scholar.google.com\/scholar_case?q=%22TOUCHSTONE+TELEVISION+PRODUCTIONs%22+%22Nicollette+Sheridan%22&amp;hl=en&amp;as_sdt=2,5&amp;case=10716927466955102914&amp;scilh=0\">\u00a0Touchstone Television Productions v. Superior Court,<\/a>\u00a0the court of appeal issued a writ of mandate compelling the trial court to grant Touchstone&#8217;s motion, holding that the company&#8217;s decision not to renew the contract was not a termination, and that Sheridan could not maintain a claim for wrongful termination in violation of public policy because &#8220;a decision not to renew a contract set to expire is not actionable in tort.&#8221; In other words, there is no cause of action for &#8220;tortious nonrenewal of an employment contract in violation of public policy.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The writ may not end the matter, however, as the court&#8217;s order included a directive permitting Sheridan to amend her complaint to allege a claim under\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/law.justia.com\/codes\/california\/2011\/lab\/division-5\/6300-6332\/6310\/\">California Labor Code \u00a7 6310.<\/a>\u00a0Such a claim, assuming it were ultimately supported by the facts of the case, would be maintained on the basis that Touchstone retaliated against Sheridan for her complaints about the &#8220;unsafe working conditions&#8221; posed by Cherry&#8217;s alleged conduct. Based on documents filed by Sheridan in recent days, it appears she intends to pursue a Section 6310 claim.<\/p>\n<p>Labor law is complex; if you have any questions regarding your employment it is recommended that you contact a<a href=\"https:\/\/www.paymeovertime.com\/\">\u00a0California labor law attorney\u00a0<\/a>who can help you understand your rights and in many cases will review your situation without charge.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Photo Credit: Shutterstock\/Photographee.eu<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you are a fan of Desperate Housewives, you might remember when during the show&#8217;s fifth season, Edie Williams, played [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-unemployment"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Not Renewing a Contract is not the same as Terminating Someone.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If your contract is ending or being cancelled make sure you know your rights. 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