Charlie Sheen fails to win trial over sitcom dispute

Charlie Sheen

LOS ANGELES—An arbitrator will decide if Charlie Sheen was unfairly sacked from TV series “Two and a Half Men,” a judge ruled Wednesday, rejecting the troubled actor’s request for a trial by jury.

The 45-year-old actor is suing Warner Brothers studios for $100 million for alleged breach of contract after the show was canceled for the rest of the season following Sheen’s public tirades against producer Chuck Lorre.

Lawyers for the actor had sought a trial by jury, but Santa Monica Superior Court Judge Allan Goodman agreed Warner Bros and Lorre that Sheen is bound by an arbitration clause in his contract.

In a 21-page ruling, the judge said Sheen’s request for a jury trial is “clearly and unmistakably required to be referred to an arbitrator for determination.”

Warner Bros lawyer Howard Weitzman welcomed the decision, saying the judge “made the appropriate ruling … This matter will now proceed in an orderly fashion as the parties agreed to.”

Sheen, who was sacked from the TV show in March, has in the past boasted of his own wild lifestyle and drug binges but claimed to have single-handedly defeated addiction, arguing that he was able to work.

But the show’s producers insist he had breached his contract, and in May announced Twitter-friendly actor Ashton Kutcher as his replacement. Production of the ninth season to start within a few months for broadcast on CBS later this year.

Sheen became an Internet sensation amid the sacking row and went on tour with a live comedy show, entitled the “My Violent Torpedo of Truth/Defeat is Not an Option” tour.

“Two and a Half Men,” about hedonistic jingle writer Charlie Harper, has been a hit since it was launched in 2003 and has been nominated for numerous awards, including nods for Sheen at the Emmys and Golden Globes.

In November, the star filed for divorce from his wife of two years, days after being taken to the hospital following the reported drunken incident at a luxury New York hotel involving a porn star.

In addition to his reported substance abuse, Sheen had several run-ins with the law in the 1990s in cases related to drugs, domestic violence and prostitution.