*A federal judge has dismissed a defamation suit against Netflix and Ava DuVernay over their Emmy-winning miniseries about the Central Park jogger case.
We previously reported… John E. Reid and Associates, a police training firm, filed the suit last fall, alleging that the series “When They See Us” falsely portrays its popular “Reid Technique” for conducting interrogations.
The controversial police tactic has been slammed by critics who believe the method produces false confessions.
The lawsuit alleged: “Defendants intended to incite an audience reaction against Reid for what occurred in the Central Park Jogger Case and for the coercive interrogation tactics that continue to be used today,” adding “Defendants published the statements in ‘When They See Us’ in an effort to cause a condemnation of the Reid Technique.”
OTHER NEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED: DJ D-Nice Talks About Club Quarantine’s on ‘CBS: This Morning’
(June 8, 2019 – Source: Getty Images North America)
As reported by Deadline, in his ruling, Judge Manish S. Shah noted that the series’ depiction was protected under the First Amendment:
“Because the First Amendment protects non-factual assertions (and because neither defendants Ava DuVernay nor Array Alliance Inc. has sufficient minimum contacts with the State of Illinois to justify haling them into court here), Reid’s complaint is dismissed,” wrote U.S. District Court Judge Manish Shah on Monday (read the order here). This ends an action started back in October by John E. Reid & Associates over their trademark controversial interrogation technique.
Not that Shah let it end there.
“If the technique is as widely used as Reid says it is, the effect of the criticism has been felt well beyond Illinois’s borders,” the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division official noted. “To find that DuVernay should be haled into court here because she criticized a process sold by a company that happens to be located in Illinois would be to offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.”
To further that point, in a corresponding document, the court declared that the judgment in the Midwest-based civil case is “in favor of defendants Netflix, Inc., Ava DuVernay, and Array Alliance, Inc., and against plaintiff John E. Reid and Associates, Inc.”
Netflix and Ava may have scored one victory but there’s still one more lawsuit to tackle.
Both were sued on March 18 by former Manhattan Assistant D.A. Linda Fairstein for defamation over her portrayal in the miniseries.
We Publish News 24/7. Don’t Miss A Story. Click HERE to SUBSCRIBE to Our Newsletter Now!
