'Price Is Right' lawsuit [update]
Last November, Cochran won her lawsuit against producers FremantleMedia North America and The Price Is Right Productions after successfully arguing that she was discriminated against and wrongfully terminated after becoming pregnant.
But because the jury received bad instructions, the case is now going back to trial, Cochran’s attorney confirmed to ABC News. The new date for the trial has not yet been set.
The show’s producers, who appealed the verdict, got it set aside thanks to a recent California Supreme Court decision over jury instructions in discrimination cases. In such cases, judges must instruct the jury that discrimination is not just a “motivating factor/reason” for termination but a “substantial motivating factor/reason.”
In Cochran’ case, Judge Kevin Brazile failed to issue the “substantial” guidance, despite a request from the defense.
“The instruction error cannot be considered harmless,” Brazile wrote in Tuesday’s ruling, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “Of central importance to the case was the weight given to discriminatory intent and whether that intent need only be of a mere motivating factor or a substantial factor. Given this central dispute, the failure to give the proper instruction regarding substantial factor cannot be considered harmless, and a new trial must be granted.”
Cochran, now 41, was pregnant with twins after years of trying to conceive but, she said, the show’s executive producer was not pleased.
Read more: abcnews
