Netflix can be sued by ex-Central Park Five prosecutor for defamation
Netflix was ordered by a federal judge to face a defamation lawsuit by best-selling author and former Manhattan prosecutor Linda Fairstein over her portrayal in a 2019 crime drama about the Central Park Five case.
US District Judge Kevin Castel on Tuesday said Fairstein plausibly alleged that Netflix, director Ava DuVernay and writer-producer Attica Locke acted with actual malice as to five scenes in «When They See Us.»
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Offering CollegeCourseWebsiteNorthwestern UniversityKellogg Post Graduate Certificate in Product ManagementVisitIndian School of BusinessISB Professional Certificate in Product ManagementVisitIndian School of BusinessISB Product ManagementVisitIIM LucknowIIML Executive Programme in Data ScienceVisit The series dramatized the story of five Black and Hispanic teenagers who spent five to 13 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted in the April 1989 rape of a white jogger in Central Park. Another man confessed in 2002.
Castel in a 67-page decision found evidence that in depicting Fairstein as a villain emblematic of broader problems in criminal justice, the defendants «reverse-engineered plot points to attribute actions, responsibilities and viewpoints to Fairstein that were not hers and are unsupported in defendants' substantial body of research materials.»
The Manhattan judge said jurors should decide whether there was «clear and convincing evidence that defendants were recklessly indifferent to the truth.»
Netflix, based in Los Gatos, California, and the defendants' lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A lawyer for Fairstein had no immediate comment.
Fairstein, 76, had been running the sex crimes unit of the Manhattan
