Netflix has been unsuccessful in its attempt to have a defamation case launched against it by the woman claiming to be the model for the stalker in the Emmy-winning television series “Baby Reindeer.”
The massive streaming service had requested that a judge dismiss Fiona Harvey’s lawsuit, claiming to be the real-life “Martha,” the aggressive, abusive, and deluded lady at the heart of Richard Gadd’s internationally popular television series.
The show, which has garnered six Emmys and is watched by millions worldwide, asserts in its premiere episode that it is “a true story”—a claim that has put it in legal hot water since the script does not closely follow actual events.
The seven-episode series, which is based on Gadd’s one-man play, follows a fictionalized version of the writer who meets a woman in the pub where he works.
What follows is a very upsetting, multi-year ordeal for Gadd during which she harasses him, his girlfriend, and his family via thousands of voicemails, texts, and emails.
The show depicts Martha as having stalked a lawyer in the past, and it also shows her sexually abusing Gadd.
Because the events shown in the series were “substantially true,” Netflix has said that it could not be sued for defamation and that viewers would know it was a drama even if it wasn’t totally genuine.
The streamer had offered as evidence the fact that Harvey had been investigated for stalking, had touched Gadd sexually without his consent and had shoved him.
However, a judge in California ruled that there were considerable deviations between real-life events and those served up to viewers.
“There are major differences between inappropriate touching and sexual assault, as well as between shoving and gouging another’s eyes,” wrote Judge Gary Klausner, in a ruling published Friday.
“There is a major difference between stalking and being convicted of stalking in a court of law.”
The ruling cited an article in Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper that quoted entertainment industry sources saying that Gadd had been concerned that Netflix was presenting the series as “a true story,” rather than “based on a true story.”
That Netflix carried on anyway “suggests a reckless disregard” of facts, Klausner wrote.
“While the statements were made in a series that largely has the trappings of a black comedy-drama, the very first episode states unequivocally that ‘this is a true story,’ thereby inviting the audience to accept the statements as fact.”
Harvey can now move on with his California defamation lawsuit according to the ruling.
Her requests for punitive damages, as well as her allegations of negligence and excessive negligence, were rejected.
Netflix declared in an AFP statement that it will keep fighting the slander lawsuit.
“We intend to defend this matter vigorously and to stand by Richard Gadd’s right to tell his story,” added the statement.
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