A handful of scenes from the award winning “When They See Us” series about the Central Park Five could be misconstrued by viewers as “based in fact,” a federal judge wrote Monday, allowing a defamation suit by ex-Manhattan sex crimes prosecutor Linda Fairstein to proceed.
via: Hot97
It has been reported that earlier this week a federal judge has ruled that director Ava DuVernay and writer Attica Locke can be sued over the depiction of Fairstein in the critically acclaimed film about the Central Park Five.
Fairstein, who was the prosecutor in the trial of the Central Park Five, filed a lawsuit last March citing that the portrayal of her role in the movie was “grossly inaccurate and defamatory.”
However, DuVernay, Locke, and Netflix have all sought to get the lawsuit dismissed on the grounds of the first amendment.
They argued, “Central to the First Amendment is the right to harshly criticize the government, including in the context of artistic film dramatizations based on real stories and perspectives that include unflattering portrayals of public officials.”
The dismissal request went on to say, “At its core, Plaintiff Linda Fairstein seeks to evade that criticism by ignoring the Series’ essential context, the actual dialogue in the Series, and her own actual, documented words, and actions. The Complaint cannot stand as a matter of law.”
Just because she can proceed with a lawsuit doesn’t mean that she will win.
