Netflix fails to get Fiona Harvey’s Baby Reindeer lawsuit thrown out

Transcript

00:00Two words might have saved Netflix from being sued nearly $200 million by Baby Rainders

00:05real-life Martha Fiona Harvey.

00:07A U.S. judge has ruled that the woman accused of stalking the show's creator Richard Gad

00:12can pursue her defamation case against Netflix for $170 million.

00:16District Judge Gary Klausner said the show was wrongly advertised as a true story.

00:20He argued that Netflix made no effort to fact-check Gad's claims against Fiona Harvey or disguise

00:25her as the inspiration for the character of Martha.

00:28Harvey has maintained that the allegations brought against her in the show are false,

00:31describing them as brutal lies.

00:33She denies sexually assaulting Gad and says the show falsely implies she was sent to prison

00:38for stalking him.

00:39So how did Netflix get into this mess?

00:41Basically, the issue is that the show begins with the line, this is a true story, appearing

00:45on the screen.

00:46But the judge argued that key events, including the conviction for stalking, did not happen

00:50in real life.

00:51Harvey denies other events happening, such as stalking a police officer, attacking Gad

00:56outside a pub, and waiting outside his home for up to 16 hours a day.

00:59The show was originally a play, and was billed slightly differently, as being based on a

01:04true story.

01:05The judge argued that the addition of these two words leaves scope for certain details

01:09to come out as false.

01:11So the fact that Netflix declared it as a true story, rather than being based on one,

01:15is where they've got themselves into a bit of trouble.

01:17Despite all this, Netflix still defends the show and Richard Gad's right to tell his

01:21story.

01:22The streaming giant has just signed a new deal with him, despite the current lawsuit.

01:26Hopefully in this new show, they don't make such a potentially expensive mistake.