Judge allows defamation lawsuit against Netflix over “Baby Reindeer” to proceed
A Scottish woman accused of stalking “Baby Reindeer” creator and star Richard Gadd can proceed with her defamation lawsuit against Netflix, after a federal judge in California refused to dismiss all of the claims.
In a ruling published on Friday, Judge R. Gary Klausner wrote that while Fiona Harvey’s “purported actions are reprehensible,” the differences in how the show depicted these “could produce a different effect on the mind of a viewer.”
Judge Klausner also wrote that while Fiona Harvey’s “purported actions are reprehensible,” the differences in how the show depicted these “could produce a different effect on the mind of a viewer,” and thus the defendants’
CNN has contacted Gadd and Netflix for comment.
In a statement to CNN, in June, a spokesperson for Netflix said: “We intend to defend this matter vigorously and to stand by Richard Gadd’s right to tell his story.”
In the Emmy-award winning Netflix miniseries, Gadd recounts, what is billed as a “true story” of being stalked by a woman who bombards him with more than 40,000 emails and hundreds of hours of voice messages.
The show topped most-watched lists worldwide after its debut in April, generating headlines and speculation about the characters and who inspired them. Harvey, who was quickly tracked down by online sleuths who labeled her the “real Martha Scott,” filed a complaint in the District Court for the Central District of California in June, seeking a jury trial and damages totaling $170 million.
Gadd previously told UK newspaper The Guardian the story is “very emotionally true … But we wanted it to exist in the sphere of art, as well as protect the people it’s based on.”
His repeated requests, however, for viewers to cease trying to find out the real-life identities of the figures in his story went unheard.
In his order, Judge Klaussner addresses Netflix’s argument that these examples were “substantially true,” a commonly used defense against defamation which contends that the overall gist of a claim is true. The streaming company argued that although Harvey is not a twice-convicted criminal, “she could have been convicted and sentenced to five years in prison,” and that she got “’handsy’ with (Gadd), pinching him and touching various parts of his body including his “bum” without consent.”