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Yesterday, a Scottish woman filed a lawsuit against Netflix seeking at least $170 million in damages, claiming she was defamed for playing a lurker in the miniseries My Spoiled Gazelle.
Fiona Harvey has publicly claimed that she was the inspiration for the character of Martha, played by actress Jessica Gunning, who looks like her and, like her, works as a lawyer in London.
But in a complaint filed in federal court in Los Angeles, Harvey said Netflix and series creator Richard Judd crossed a line by suggesting in a series described as based on a “true story” that she was a stalker and a stalker who was twice convicted and sentenced to five years in prison.
Harvey denies pursuing Gad, who appears in the series that tells his story through a character called Donnie Dunn, and denies that she has been convicted or jailed.
But she said many people could not distinguish fact from fiction, with thousands of users on social media sites such as TikTok referring to her as the “real” Martha.
“Defendants lied, and they never stopped because it was a better story than the truth, and better stories made money,” the lawsuit states.
Netflix said in response to the lawsuit that it intends to “vigorously defend this matter and support Richard Gad’s right to tell his story.”
In addition to at least $20 million in punitive damages, the lawsuit seeks at least $50 million each in actual damages, emotional distress and lost profits.
Harvey filed his lawsuit two days after Netflix settled a defamation case with former Attorney General Linda Fairstein over her portrayal of her character in the 2019 series “When They See Us,” about the Central Park Five rape case three decades ago.
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