‘Baby Reindeer’ $170M Defamation Case Against Netflix Gets 2025 Trial Date
The $170 million defamation lawsuit against Netflix over Baby Reindeer is heading to trial next year.
On Tuesday, a federal judge set a May 6 start date for Fiona Harvey’s big-swing action against the streamer. The proceedings are estimated to last about two weeks.
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Netflix had no comment about the trial start date for the Emmy-winning series created by and starring Richard Gaad when contacted by Deadline today. However, the company run by Ted Sarandos- and Greg Peters did reiterate its earlier statement that its intends “to defend this matter vigorously and to stand by Richard Gadd’s right to tell his story.”
Sending a bit of chill through the true-crime creative community, the lawsuit by Gaad’s real-life stalker Harvey, who was partially the inspiration for the breakout show’s chilling Martha Scott, was filed on June 6 (read it here).
RELATED: Netflix Admits ‘Baby Reindeer’s Real-Life Martha Was Not Convicted Of Stalking Richard Gadd
That was mere days after Harvey publicly declared on Piers Morgan’s UK chat show that Martha was based on her – an assumption that Gaad has thrown some degree of cold water on in statements in response to the Harvey’s suit. “Martha Scott is not Fiona Harvey,” Gaad said in a July 28 declaration backing Netflix’s attempt to get the matter dismissed. “Like all characters in the Series, Martha is a fictional character with fictional personality traits that are very different than Harvey’s.”
In his declaration, Emmy-nominated Gaad avoids the “this is a true story” slate that appears at the beginning of Baby Reindeer. Hyperbole aside, Harvey’s big bucks defamation suit spotlights that “true story” text as “the biggest lie in television history.”
Still, the streamer’s defense in part so far, and its efforts to get the case tossed, rests on Harvey’s claims being “insufficiently pled.” Netflix and their Latham & Watkins lawyers further argued in a September 4 filing that “given the fictional Series’ context, including disclaimers and cinematic elements, that is hardly sufficient to state any claim against Netflix—and certainly not one for defamation.”
Historic or not, with the global success of the dark comedy, Harvey’s legal action has attracted quite a bit of attention. Regardless, even with the trial date set for next year, it is going to be a bit of hike before anyone is in front of jury on this one — if at all.
RELATED: Netflix UK Boss Insists ‘Baby Reindeer’ Is “Not A Documentary” Amid Lawsuit
For one thing, Judge R. Gary Klausner also has sent the whole case over to mandatory Alternative Dispute Resolution aka mediation. “Pursuant to Local Rule 1615, the parties in every case must select an ADR settlement procedure,” Klausner wrote on September 10. “The final meeting with the parties’ settlement officer must take place no later than 45 days before the Final Pretrial Conference.”
With a finite date of March 7 for the parties to work a settlement instead of clogging up the already-backlogged courts, the mediation process will run parallel to the standard lead-up to a trial of summary judgment filings, discovery and more. To that, Harvey and her Roth Law Firm in NYC and LA-based attorney Allen Hyman this week submitted a boatload of exhibits and other documents under seal.
RELATED: ‘Baby Reindeer’ Brushes Off Controversy As Netflix Series Secures 11 Emmy Nominations
The timing of the trial-date announcement comes as Baby Reindeer is up for an armful of awards at the 76th Primetime Emmys ceremony on Sunday.
Having already won the Casting and Picture Editing awards at the Creative Arts Emmys over the weekend, Baby Reindeer is in the running with the big kids this coming Sunday. Among its remaining nominations, the show is up for Best Limited or Anthology Series and a Lead Actor in a Limited series and writing nod for Gadd himself, as well as a Best Supporting Actress nom for co-star Jessica Gunning.
The second Emmy Awards of 2024 will air live at 5 p.m. PT/8 ET Sunday on ABC — except if you are a blacked-out DirecTV subscriber.
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