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CHARACTER IN A MOVIE BASED UPON A SHORT STORY WAS IDENTIFIABLE AS PLAINTIFF, THE COMPLAINT STATED CAUSES OF ACTION FOR DEFAMATION AGAINST THE MAKERS OF THE MOVIE (FIRST DEPT).

The First Department determined the complaint by plaintiff, the ex-husband of the writer, Katha Pollitt, stated causes of action for defamation and the movie defendants’ motion to dismiss was properly granted. The short story, written by Katha Pollitt, on which defendants’ movie was based, referred to Pollitt’s lover as a philanderer and womanizer, but described Pollitt’s ex-husband (plaintiff) as someone with whom Pollitt got on very well and an excellent father. Plaintiff alleged the references in the movie to the main character’s ex-husband as an adulterer and philanderer were defamatory because the main character was identifiable as Katha Pollitt and plaintiff was Pollitt’s only ex-husband:

Plaintiff sufficiently pleads that defamatory statements made about Wendy’s ex-husband, in the trailer, are “of and concerning” him … . The trailer, which proclaims itself to be “Based on a True Story,” is based upon, and shares a title with the article, linking the main character, Wendy, to Ms. Pollitt, and by extension, Wendy’s ex-husband Ted to plaintiff. Wendy and Pollitt are middle-aged, female writers learning to drive in Manhattan, who formerly relied on an ex-husband to drive them and have a daughter. As relates to the story, plaintiff’s salient characteristic is that he is the only ex-husband of the article’s author, which distinctive trait links him indelibly to Ted, the only former spouse depicted in the trailer … .

At this early stage of the litigation, defendants failed to establish that plaintiff was a public figure or that this was a matter of public concern, to which the “actual malice” standard applies… , or that the subject matter of the trailer is within the sphere of legitimate public concern … . Cohen v Broad Green Pictures LLC, 2018 NY Slip Op 02757, First Dept 4-24-18

​DEFAMATION (CHARACTER IN A MOVIE BASED UPON A SHORT STORY WAS IDENTIFIABLE AS PLAINTIFF, THE COMPLAINT STATED CAUSES OF ACTION FOR DEFAMATION AGAINST THE MAKERS OF THE MOVIE (FIRST DEPT))/MOVIES (DEFAMATION, CHARACTER IN A MOVIE BASED UPON A SHORT STORY WAS IDENTIFIABLE AS PLAINTIFF, THE COMPLAINT STATED CAUSES OF ACTION FOR DEFAMATION AGAINST THE MAKERS OF THE MOVIE (FIRST DEPT))

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