Lyle v. Warner Bros. (April 20, 2006) 2006 WL 1028558 [California Supreme Court]

A former writer's assistant for the show Friends sued producers and writers of show, alleging violations of Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), for race and gender discrimination, racial and sexual harassment, and retaliation. The Superior Court granted defendants' motions for summary judgment. The former assistant appealed. The court of appeal affirmed and now the Supreme Court did too.

The plaintiff failed to establish a sexually objectionable work environment that was sufficiently severe or persuasive to support a claim for hostile work environment. For harassment based on gender, the plaintiff would have had to show that the objectionable language she was exposed to was exaggerated to different when she or other women were around. It was not enough to show that the males on the writing team talked about their sexual experiences in front of her, not matter how vulgar.

The court also used First Amendment justification and noted that "When First Amendment values are at stake, summary judgment is a favored remedy because unnecessarily protracted litigation would have a chilling effect on the exercise of" free speech.