It is bad news for the warlock Charlie Sheen this week as the court has decided his case will be heard in private arbitration rather than in an open court.

What this means is that the lawsuit will be settled by one or two trained arbitrators, versus twelve regular joes in a civil trial. No doubt, Charlie was hoping to be able to woo a jury to his way of thinking, leaning on his popularity and wit. Now, he’ll have to sit in front of basically judges and those judges are less likely to be enamored with his antics in contrast to Warner Brothers professional attitude on the matter. It also won’t allow him a forum where he can gain publicity by grandstanding against “the man” for the sake of his audience and the cameras.

But on the other hand, the lawsuit may be a blessing in disguise. Seeing what lengths he’s willing to go against the studio may be good TV or at least a fun show for the court gallery, but it’s not going to help garnish much work in the industry. The studios don’t really like when they get sued and hearing every detail of his work ethic may scare off potential employers. After all, we seen this week how even a comment can lose you a multi-million dollar movie contract (Megan Fox calling Michael Bay Hitler and Steven Spielberg getting rid of her). And so the less he is seen fighting against the company, making whatever accusations he plans to make, the better.

An attorney for Sheen said, however, that he still thinks that the case could wind up in public if the arbitrator decides not to pursue it and turns it back over to the judge, but that is highly unlikely at this point. But you have to admire his optimism.

Despite the privacy, you can’t help but think that Charlie will find a way to make this as public as possible regardless. The next step is an arbitration hearing, which has not yet been scheduled in the case.