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Price Is Right Model Brandi Cochran Awarded $7.7 Million in Damages in Wrongful-Termination Suit
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Brandi Cochran spun the proverbial Big Wheel—and she just won.
A jury has awarded the former The Price Is Right model more than $7.7 million in punitive damages in her wrongful-termination case against the classic game show's producers.
The 41-year-old Cochran had sued FremantleMedia North America and The Price Is Right Productions in 2010, claiming she was fired after seven years on the show when she attempted to return to work after taking maternity leave.
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The judgment will, for now at least (Fremantle has indicated it will appeal the jury's decision), be tacked on to the nearly $777,000 in compensatory damages pinned on Cohcran's former bosses yesterday.
The jury started deliberating last Thursday, but, after being informed that they were deadlocked, L.A. Superior Court Judge Kevin Brazile replaced two members of the panel with alternates on Friday and then replaced another two on Monday, forcing the process to start anew each time.
Unlike a criminal trial, which requires unanimity, a civil case only requires nine jurors to be in agreement to reach a judgment.
"We believe the verdict in this case was the result of a flawed process in which the court, among other things, refused to allow the jury to hear and consider that 40 percent of our models have been pregnant and other important evidence to our defense," FremantleMedia said in a statement to E! News before the punitive verdict came down.
"We expect to be fully vindicated after the matter has been reviewed and stand behind executive producer Mike Richards and the staff of The Price is Right."
The defense said during the trial that the producers were simply pleased with the five models working with host Drew Carey at the time and Cochran's pregnancy had nothing to do with her firing.
—Additional reporting by Claudia Rosenbaum
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