Former Price Is Right model Brandi Cochran filed a lawsuit against the show in 2010 for discrimination. Cochran was awarded $8.5 million at the time. Today, however, that money vanished.
A California state judge threw out the $8.5 million award saying that the jury was not properly instructed before it’s decision.
The Price Is Right lawsuit was filed shortly after Cochran tried to return to the show after maternity leave. Cochran said that the show treated her poorly after pregnancy, commented on her weight gain, and eventually decided not to rehire her.
The jury initially ruled in Cochran’s favor and awarded her $8.5 million. But Chochran may have only won her lawsuit due to the fact that the jury was not properly instructed before they deliberated.
The Hollywood Reporter notes that Judge Kevin Brazile instructed the jury that they had to decide if discrimination was a “motivating factor” for determination. Brazile should have said a “substantial motivating factor” for termination.
Brazile wrote today that his instructions may have swayed the jury in one direction.
Brazile wrote: “The instruction error cannot be considered harmless… 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.”
Brazile overturned the verdict but that doesn’t mean that the show is out of the woods yet. There will be a retrial later this month.
Do you think the Price Is Right will lose the lawsuit again?