‘Baby Reindeer’ $170M Defamation Case Against Netflix Gets 2025 Trial Date

deadline.com:

The $170 million defamation lawsuit against Netflix over Baby Reindeer is heading to trial next year. On Tuesday, a federal judge set a May 6 start date for Fiona Harvey’s big-swing action against the streamer.

The proceedings are estimated to last about two weeks. Netflix had no comment about the trial start date for the Emmy-winning series created by and starring Richard Gaad when contacted by Deadline today.

However, the company run by Ted Sarandos– and Greg Peters did reiterate its earlier statement that its intends “to defend this matter vigorously and to stand by Richard Gadd‘s right to tell his story.” Sending a bit of chill through the true-crime creative community, the lawsuit by Gaad’s real-life stalker Harvey, who was partially the inspiration for the breakout show’s chilling Martha Scott, was filed on June 6 (read it here). RELATED: Netflix Admits ‘Baby Reindeer’s Real-Life Martha Was Not Convicted Of Stalking Richard Gadd That was mere days after Harvey publicly declared on Piers Morgan’s UK chat show that Martha was based on her – an assumption that Gaad has thrown some degree of cold water on in statements in response to the Harvey’s suit. “Martha Scott is not Fiona Harvey,” Gaad said in a July 28 declaration backing Netflix’s attempt to get the matter dismissed. “Like all characters in the Series, Martha is a fictional character with fictional personality traits that are very different than Harvey’s.” In his declaration, Emmy-nominated Gaad avoids the “this is a true story” slate that appears at the beginning of Baby Reindeer.

Hyperbole aside, Harvey’s big bucks defamation suit spotlights that “true story” text as  “the biggest lie in television history.” RELATED: ‘Baby Reindeer’ Creator Richard Gadd