It’s all been a bit quiet on the Baby Reindeer front, but we now have word that Fiona Harvey AKA the real-life Martha Scott is proceeding with her lawsuit against Netflix, seeking monetary damages of at least $170,000,000 (£132,000,000).
According to Variety, Fiona Harvey is alleging defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, and violations of her right of publicity.
What’s interesting is that the lawsuit says Fiona Harvey’s conviction for stalking, and her sexual assault against Richard Gadd are both lies. But it doesn’t say that her stalking of multiple people for years, and sending social workers to the homes of MPs by claiming their kids were in danger, were lies. The complaint reads:
“The lies that Defendants told about Harvey to over 50 million people worldwide include that Harvey is a twice-convicted stalker who was sentenced to five years in prison, and that Harvey sexually assaulted Gadd. Defendants told these lies, and never stopped, because it was a better story than the truth, and better stories made money.”
“As a result of Defendants’ lies, malfeasance and utterly reckless misconduct, Harvey’s life had been ruined. Simply, Netflix and Gadd destroyed her reputation, her character and her life.”
Will be interesting to see how Fiona Harvey’s legal team goes about proving that there’s been damage to her reputation or career or any aspect of her life, given her reputation was already in the mud in the legal world. Then again, maybe it’s ultimately about how easy it was for fans of Baby Reindeer to identify Fiona Harvey in real life, with Netflix and Richard Gadd making a p*ss-poor attempt to protect her identity despite insisting that was something of a priority.
In any case, $170 million seems like a wild figure to throw out there. Maybe Netflix will be happy to settle out of court for around $1 million? Which I’d be willing to bet Fiona Harvey would take and run. I’m not even convinced the media attention bothers her at all, to be honest.
Netflix has responded to the Fiona Harvey lawsuit with the following statement:
“We intend to defend this matter vigorously and to stand by Richard Gadd’s right to tell his story.”
Meanwhile, the career of Richard Gadd seems to be going from strength to strength; he’s set to star in the next instalment of one of the biggest movie franchises in the world. Take that, Fiona!
