Netflix has failed in its attempt to persuade a judge to throw out a defamation lawsuit brought by the woman who inspired the stalker character in hit series Baby Reindeer.<\/p>\n
Fiona Harvey claims the streaming giant told \u201cbrutal lies\u201d about her to more than 50 million viewers around the world.<\/p>\n
The show, created by Richard Gadd, is billed as \u201ca true story\u201d, but certain key events, like the conviction for stalking, did not happen in real life, the judge concluded.<\/p>\n
Netflix said: \u201cWe intend to defend this matter vigorously and to stand by Richard Gadd\u2019s right to tell his story.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his ruling, Judge Gary Klausner wrote: \u201cThere is a major difference between stalking and being convicted of stalking in a court of law.\u201d<\/p>\n
There were other substantial disparities between what really happened and what was shown on screen, he noted.<\/p>\n
Ms Harvey says also she did not stalk a police officer, sexually assault Gadd, violently attack him in a pub by smashing a bottle over his head and gouging his eyes, or wait outside his home for up to 16 hours a day.<\/p>\n
Netflix argued those things should be viewed as \u201csubstantially true\u201d because she did arguably similar things in real life.<\/p>\n
However, the judge wrote: \u201cThere are major differences between inappropriate touching and sexual assault, as well as between shoving and gouging another\u2019s eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gadd\u2019s original stage play was billed slightly differently \u2013 as being \u201cbased on a true story\u201d \u2013 which suggests \u201ccertain details were likely false\u201d, the judge wrote.<\/p>\n
A Sunday Times article from June quoted TV industry sources as saying Gadd \u201cexpressed concerns\u201d with Netflix about presenting it as simply \u201ca true story\u201d.<\/p>\n
The fact the company went ahead \u201csuggests a reckless disregard of whether statements in the series were false\u201d, Judge Klausner wrote.<\/p>\n
Netflix argued that most viewers would understand the claims made in the show to be \u201cnot factual\u201d because it was shot in the style of a drama.<\/p>\n
However, the judge disagreed, writing: \u201cWhile the statements were made in a series that largely has the trappings of a black comedy-drama, the very first episode states unequivocally that \u2018this is a true story\u2019, thereby inviting the audience to accept the statements as fact.\u201d<\/p>\n
Netflix also said the similarities between the real and fictionalised people were so broad that average viewers would not have been able to identify Ms Harvey as Martha.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe court disagrees,\u201d the judge wrote. \u201cThis is not the typical case where a plaintiff happens to be one of hundreds of people that match a fictional character\u2019s broad characteristics.<\/p>\n
\u201cRather, Martha and Plaintiff [Ms Harvey] have specific similarities that few others could claim to share.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, the judge did side with Netflix in some parts of Ms Harvey\u2019s case, dismissing her negligence and gross negligence claims, and her request for punitive damages.<\/p>\n
Baby Reindeer has been one of the biggest TV hits of the past year, and recently won six Emmy Awards in the US.<\/p>\n
The post \u2018Baby Reindeer\u2019 lawsuit to go ahead<\/a> first appeared on KBC<\/a>.<\/p>\n The post \u2018Baby Reindeer\u2019 lawsuit to go ahead<\/a> appeared first on KBC<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Netflix has failed in its attempt to persuade a judge to throw out a defamation lawsuit brought by the woman who inspired the stalker character in hit series Baby Reindeer. Fiona Harvey claims the streaming giant told \u201cbrutal lies\u201d about her to more than 50 million viewers around the world. The show, created by Richard […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97946\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}