Netflix suffered a loss in court this week amid their attempts to have a defamation suit relating to their hit series Baby Reindeer dismissed.
Back in June, the streaming platform was sued for $170 million by Fiona Harvey. She alleges that the character Martha (Jessica Gunning, pictured here) in the show is based on her, and that she was defamed by the portrayal.
The streaming platform vowed to defend themselves and attempted to have the case dismissed in court. However, their attempts were unsuccessful.
Keep reading to find out more…
According to reporting by Deadline, U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner disagreed with Netflix’s argument.
“Defendants argue that a reasonable person would not understand that Martha is, in actual fact, Plaintiff, such that any statements about Martha would be about Plaintiff,” he wrote in court documents. “In particular, Defendants argue that the similarities between Martha and Plaintiff are so broad that a reasonable person would not have been able to identify her. The Court disagrees.”
He continued, writing, “This is not the typical case where a plaintiff happens to be one of hundreds of people that match a fictional character’s broad characteristics.”
“Rather, Martha and Plaintiff have specific similarities that few others could claim to share. Specifically, Martha and Plaintiff are both Scottish lawyers living in London, twenty years older than Donny/Gadd, accused of stalking a lawyer in a newspaper article, who communicated with Donny/Gadd on social media,” he wrote. “While there may be numerous Scottish lawyers living in London of the same approximate age as Plaintiff, it is very likely that only Plaintiff has been accused of stalking a lawyer in a newspaper article while also communicating with Gadd on social media.”
The outlet noted that the judge did strike Fiona‘s arguments of negligence and right of publicity. She will not be able to seek punitive damages, either.
The case will go to trial on May 6, 2025 if the parties do not reach an agreement outside of court. We’ll update you if anything changes before then.
See what show creator and star Richard Gadd had to say about the lawsuit earlier this summer.
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