The View

Hasselbeck had been sued by Susan Hassett back in 2009 -- after Hassett alleged EH's book, "The G-Free Diet: A Gluten-Free Survival Guide," was a rip-off of her book, "Living with Celiac Disease."

The judge had originally 86'd Hassett's case on a technicality -- but she re-filed ... and Friday, it was decided once and for all that Hassett didn't have enough evidence to prove Hassselbeck violated her copyright.

Geddie and his wife, Barbara Ann, are being sued by Annjeanette George, who claims the Geddie's vehicle hit the motorcycle she was riding on near LAX in December, 2008, causing serious injuries.

According to the complaint, Bill and Barbara Ann "owned, controlled, repaired, entrusted, maintained and operated" the vehicle.

The suit was filed Thursday in L.A. County Superior Court, just before the statute of limitations ran out.

Annjeanette claims she'll have to endure physicians, surgeons and others to heal. She's suing for unspecified damages.

Boyle was belting out "O Holy Night" -- when she began coughing and backed away from the mic ... then asked the producer if she could start over ... all while the cameras continued to roll.

After several awkward seconds, Whoopi and Sherri swooped in and bailed her out.

Producers tell us Boyle will retape her performance for the West Coast.

The ladies launched right into the controversy on this morning's show -- with both Whoopi and Joy insisting they were "glad" that they left.

But Babs -- still upset with the way things went down -- said, "You don't walk out of your own home ... you can walk out of somebody else's home ... but you don't walk out of your own home."

Shepherd was at LaGuardia Airport yesterday, where she also insisted that Bill knew what buttons he was gonna push when he said, "Muslims killed us on 9/11."

As for dirty details from the set of "The View" -- Sherri seems to be under a gag order ... telling us, "I can't talk about that."

Tempers flared on both sides as O'Reilly argued that the mosque has no place near the World Trade Center site because "Muslims killed us on 9/11."

Just as the women stormed off stage -- a rattled Walters proclaimed, "You have just seen what should not happen ... we should be able to have discussions without washing our hands and screaming and walking off stage."

Walters continued, "I love my colleagues, but that should not have happened."

Whoopi and Joy eventually returned to the set ... though Joy did not return to her usual seat, located right next to Bill ... instead sitting on the end of the couch.

Shepherd just filed an income declaration in her ongoing divorce from husband Jeff Tarpley ... and in the docs, Sherri lists that she takes home $54,767 a month ... and says she only works 16 hours a week -- that works out to about $855 per hour!

It all went down during a pop culture lightning round on this morning's show -- in which the POTUS admitted that he knew about Lindsay Lohan's jail stint ... and kinda, sorta dissed Snooki.

Shepherd testified after having a preemie baby weighing 1 pound, 10 ounces, she was going back and forth to the neonatal intensive care unit for several months. She said one day upon returning home, she found pictures of her husband Jeff Tarpley having sex with a random woman, whom he later impregnated.

Shepherd filed for divorce shortly after finding the photos, back in 2006.

"The View" star was leaving court in Los Angeles when we asked her if divorce had made her bitter toward marriage -- she said no ... in fact, she "loves marriage" and she'd "absolutely" do it again ... just not with her ex.

Barbara Walters announced this morning that she will be undergoing heart surgery later this week.

During today's episode of "The View," Walters said she will be having a defective heart valve replaced. She told viewers, "You know how I always say to you how healthy I am ... I've never missed a day's work ... later this week, I'm going to have surgery to replace one faulty heart valve.

She continued, "Lots of people have done this and I have known about this condition for a while now."