Moves Forward

A Los Angeles superior court judge is allowing Nicollette Sheridan’s $20 million wrongful-termination lawsuit against ABC and Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry to move forward.

Judge Elizabeth Allen White on Tuesday denied ABC’s attempt to delete a claim from the suit because of problems in wording, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Sheridan sued ABC and Cherry for assault and discrimination back in April, claiming she was fired after she complained to producers of Cherry striking her on set. She claims the complaint was ignored; her character on the show, Edie Britt, was subsequently killed off.

Lawyers for ABC argued Tuesday that a portion of the suit should be dismissed because it combined three distinct claims: discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, and age.

The judge did not agree, but she did object to the wording of Sheridan’s suit. “Although annoying, inconvenient and inconsiderate, the failure to separate the three distinct wrongs does not result in an inability to understand what is alleged," White wrote in a tentative order.

The case will now proceed to the discovery phase. ABC attorney Adam Levin told the judge that the two sides had not agreed to mediation, meaning this case could go to trial.