Netflix Loses Multi-Million Dollar Baby Reindeer Legal Battle

Presiding U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner took issue with Netflix adding “based on a true story” to the streaming series. Baby Reindeer is based on a true story, but there’s debate over how much of it is true, as creator and star Richard Gadd, who was the stalking victim in real life, didn’t want the statement attached to the series for this very reason.

California is one of the most difficult states to sue for defamation thanks to very powerful anti-SLAPP laws that favor creatives and companies, and yet, Harvey’s case is strong enough that the judge believes there’s a good chance she’d prevail if it went to trial.

Baby Reindeer tells the story of Richard Gadd’s Donny, who comes across Martha (played by Jessica Gunning), a woman who initially appears to be friendly but is soon revealed as an obsessed stalker. Martha doesn’t leave Donny alone, leaving hundreds of hours of voicemails, thousands of emails, and hundreds of text messages before she’s finally convicted of stalking and sent to prison for five years. It was a hit series and a captivating story, but the problem, as Harvey alleges, is that Netflix never confirmed if it was actually true.

Fiona Harvey, unlike her fictional counterpart, has never been convicted of stalking and never served years in prison. As a result of this alleged defamation, Harvey is seeking all profits Netflix received from Baby Reindeer, in addition to the $170 million. If this goes through to trial, and if Netflix loses, expect the term “based on a true story” to be left off shows and movies moving forward.

While this is not good news for Netflix, the Baby Reindeer case could have been even worse for the company, as the judge did toss out other claims, including negligence, punitive damages, and the right of publicity. Defamation is bad enough on its own, but if the other claims had remained attached to the case, Netflix could easily have been on the hook for nearly half a billion. The catch is that a charge of intentional infliction of emotional distress is still attached.

When Fiona Harvey first went public with her claims that she was the real-life Martha, it was expected she’d file suit in her native England, which doesn’t have such a high barrier to clear for a defamation suit. The fact that the Baby Reindeer lawsuit was filed in California and it’s proceeding forward makes it likely that Netflix will ultimately be on the hook for millions of dollars. As of now, the series is still streaming on the service.