The court rejected Netflix’s petition against the “real” Martha from the TV series “Deer”
Actress Jessica Gunning, who played Marta in “The Deer”.
Olivia Wong/Getty Images
In the state of California (USA), a court hearing was held regarding the lawsuit of Fiona Harvey, who is considered the prototype of Martha – the heroine from the series “Baby Reindeer”. This is an intense comedy-drama from Netflix that tells the story of actor and comedian Richard Gadd, who became a victim of stalking.
Formerly a woman blamed Netflix in defamation, violation of its right of publicity, writes The Guardian.
The court ruled that Harvey can continue his lawsuit against Netflix. The judge said the series was falsely labeled as a “true story” and the streaming service “made no effort” to verify Richard Gadd’s story or “disguise Harvey as a prototype for Martha.”
According to Harvey, the series misrepresents her – that she allegedly sexually assaulted series creator Richard Gadd and gouged out his eyes, and that she was sent to prison for stalking a man.
In a matter of days, viewers identified the person who inspired the authors of the series to create the character Marta. Users have noticed similarities between Harvey and the character “Deer” in terms of age, occupation and nationality.
After that, Harvey filed a lawsuit in the amount of 170 million US dollars. The woman claimed that the show shamed her by portraying her as a “convicted stalker”, even though Fiona was not actually serving time.
In his defense, Richard Gadd claimed that Harvey nagged him behind the back and sent him “thousands of disturbing emails and voicemails” during his years working in a London pub. Because of this, the man turned to the police. Fiona then received a “harassment warning” but was not prosecuted.
Actress Jessica Gunning and series creator Richard Gadd
Also Gadd stated that the series and the play on which it is based are fictional and were not intended to “literally reproduce” reality.
Instead, the judge mentioned about publication in the Sunday Timesarguing that it could indicate “actual malice” if Netflix chose to pass off a story as true when it was previously known to be fictional.
Harvey’s name was never mentioned in the series, but the public quickly recognized her through posts on social networks. According to Fiona, she was threatened with violence, and the judge admitted that the plaintiff suffered “strong emotional stress and was afraid to go outside.”
In the end, the judge rejected both Netflix’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit and Harvey’s claims for negligence, violation of her publicity rights and punitive damages. But the judge allowed the woman to file a lawsuit for intentional infliction of emotional distress.
We will remind, recently the London court passed the verdict to former BBC presenter Hugh Edwards, 63, who was previously accused of possessing indecent images of children.
