Actors Olivia Wilde and Jason Sudeikis earned a legal victory Wednesday in an ongoing wrongful termination lawsuit filed by a former nanny.
A Los Angeles judge moved the filing made by Ericka Genaro to arbitration, an out-of-court alternative resolution method. Once an arbitration agreement is signed, a right to trial by jury is waived.
“We don’t agree with the decision, but it is what it is, and now we’ll litigate it in arbitration, and the case goes on,” Ron Zambrano, a partner and Employment Litigation Chair at West Coast Employment Lawyers, said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital. “This does not terminate the lawsuit. It merely changes the venue.”
Zambrano added, “As to the underlying facts, we’ve got text messages and testimony that she was driven to quit, then was summarily fired anyway. We feel extremely confident in the case so instead of taking this to trial, we’ll handle it in arbitration and we’re ready to move forward.”
Representatives for Wilde and Sudeikis provided a joint statement to Fox News Digital, saying, “The lawsuit has been fully dismissed. Both Olivia and Jason are hopeful they can finally close this chapter after what has not only been a selfish grab for financial gain, but a shameless exploitation of their trust played out in the media.”
Olivia Wilde and Jason Sudeikis’ former nanny’s wrongful termination lawsuit was sent to arbitration. (John Shearer)
Zamabrano responded to Sudeikis and Wilde’s statement with, “While the plaintiff’s substantive rights and claims in the complaint remain unscathed and will be litigated in New York, the defendants are obviously free to relish in a win on a procedural front but that doesn’t mean the lawsuit is moot or over.
“We’re now just going to argue our case in arbitration rather than before a jury in Los Angeles. Perhaps most attractive to Ms. Wilde and Mr. Sudeikis is that the evidence is now shielded from public view. But once we read the judge’s full decision, which is still pending, we believe there will be grounds for appeal.”
Genaro filed the suit earlier this year claiming she worked for the former couple for three years, and was employed by the pair when they split in 2020.
Wilde, 39, and Sudeikis, 47, announced their engagement in 2013 after first meeting in 2011. They ended their nine-year romance in November 2020.
Sudeikis and Wilde dated for nearly a decade before calling it quits in 2020. (Getty Images)
Following their break-up, Genaro claimed she began suffering from anxiety and depression after Wilde “abruptly” left the home and the “Ted Lasso” star began “leaning” on her for emotional support.
In documents obtained by Fox News Digital, Genaro argued that working in the household during the beginning of the couple’s split led to “unbearable” anxiety.
After the couple broke up, Wilde began dating musician Harry Styles, whom she met on the set of her sophomore directorial project, “Don’t Worry Darling.”
“Wilde’s sudden absence from the home had an adverse consequence on its emotional state, including Sudeikis leaning on the presence of Plaintiff for support,” the lawsuit stated.
Sudeikis and Wilde have two children together. (Jim Spellman)
The couple’s former nanny claimed she was “fired on the spot” following a three-day silence vow her therapist recommended due to overwhelming anxiety. (Getty Images)
Genaro also claimed her role as the kids’ caretaker “increased exponentially” as she was expected to take on duties typically done by Wilde now that the actress was not living in the home. She then claimed Sudeikis would “seemingly require” her to stay up late to have conversations about his failed relationship with Wilde.
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Genaro claimed to agree to participate in group therapy with Wilde and Sudeikis after news of their split hit the media, and was instructed to observe three days of “radio silence” from the pair as part of her own treatment for physical pain due to stress and anxiety, according to docs.
After being informed of the three days of silence by the therapist, Sudeikis requested to speak to the nanny immediately. In an attempt to follow the osteopath’s recommendation, Genaro told the “Ted Lasso” star she couldn’t speak to him.
Genaro claimed in the court documents that Sudeikis “terminated her on the spot.” She sought “loss of earnings, deferred compensation, and other employment benefits,” in addition to “prejudgment interest on lost wages and benefits” and compensation for “reasonable medical expenses.”
Wilde was served custody papers while speaking to more than 4,000 people at CinemaCon in April 2022. (Greg Doherty)
Sudeikis helped created the award-winning AppleTV+ series “Ted Lasso.” (Apple TV+)
In August, Wilde claimed she was sabotaged by her ex and accused the former “Saturday Night Live” cast member of trying to “threaten” her when she was publicly served custody paperwork for their two children while speaking onstage at an event in Las Vegas in April 2022.
She told Variety, “In any other workplace, it would be seen as an attack. It was really upsetting. It shouldn’t have been able to happen. There was a huge breach in security, which is really scary.”
In his initial filing, Sudeikis said Wilde and the kids had been living in London since December 2021 while he filmed “Ted Lasso” and intended to return to his “permanent home” of Brooklyn. He also wrote that she had plans to “relocate with the children to London following the close of school in 2023.”
Despite the public display of documents, Sudeikis’ petition to keep the kids in New York was dismissed in August when a judge decreed the children’s home state to be California.
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