Hatcher fashions response to skin-care suit
Natalie Finn

LOS ANGELES—Teri Hatcher apparently doesn’t care to keep her lips sealed in this case. Attorneys for the Desperate Housewives star successfully argued Thursday that the skin-care company suing the actress for breach of contract has no grounds to rush the discovery process by issuing subpoenas for the defendant’s business records and collecting early depositions.
In denying Hydroderm’s motion, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Helen Bendix equated the product purveyor’s insinuation that Hatcher might use her celebrity status and personal relationships to conceal evidence to “character assassination.”
Hydroderm filed suit against Hatcher Tuesday, claiming that she inked a deal to exclusively promote its antiaging wares and then was quoted and photographed touting the effects of competitor City Cosmetics’ lip plumper, among other products.
The plaintiff is seeking $2.4 million, the same amount of Hatcher’s endorsement deal, plus related expenses. In its opposition to Hydroderm’s motion to get the show on the road, Hatcher’s camp stated that the actress, since hooking up with the company in 2005, has “fully performed, and been willing to perform, her end of the bargain professionally and enthusiastically so that both parties would benefit.” (View the filing.)
“Contrary to the wild and unsupportable allegations,” Hatcher has not made a deal with any other cosmetic or skincare companies or authorized any of Hydroderm’s competitors to use her name to promote a product, court documents state. According to Hatcher’s lawyers, Hydroderm is “simply trying to hound” the actress into accepting a smaller paycheck than was previously agreed upon.
Blaming the company’s management shakeups and other internal strife, her attorneys say that Hydroderm has “failed to move the endorsement program forward due to its own corporate paralysis.” Meanwhile, Hydroderm has accused Hatcher of pimping her celebrity services to at least 22 other skin-care and cosmetics firms while under contract.