The woman suing Netflix for defamation over its hit programme Baby Reindeer has hurdles to navigate in a California court but she could succeed, legal experts predict.
Executives at the US streaming company confirmed this week that they would defend “vigorously” a $170 million defamation claim issued by Fiona Harvey, who claims that she was easily identifiable as a stalker character in the show.
Netflix said it would “stand by” the right of the programme’s writer, Richard Gadd, “to tell his story”.
• ‘Stalker’ from Baby Reindeer sues Netflix for $170m
But a prominent media lawyer who is familiar with defamation law in California, the state where Harvey’s claim has been issued, said that Netflix made a “fundamental error” by describing Baby Reindeer as “a