Media & Communication Law
Law & Order ‘Fiction’ is Eerily Like Actual Cases, Crime Victims Say
Posted Mar 16, 2009, 05:31 pm CST
By Martha Neil
A year after a judge denied a motion to dismiss, an unusual "libel in fiction" case filed against the popular Law & Order television show by a New York lawyer is still awaiting trial.
Revolving around a murder and a judicial bribery scandal, the 2003 episode Floater libeled him because a lead character in the fictional episode was so similar to his real-life self, argued attorney Ravi Batra. A New York judge overseeing the case as it proceeds toward trial agreed that he has a case.
There is “a reasonable likelihood that the ordinary viewer, unacquainted with Batra personally, could understand [television character Ravi] Patel’s corruption to be the truth about Batra,” Justice Marilyn Shafer wrote in denying the motion to dismiss, reports the Washington Post.
Batra's not the only person unhappy over a seemingly close similarity between the show episodes, which are expressly identified as fiction, and unhappy reality, the newspaper recounts, although he seems to be the only one who's sued Law & Order.
"The fact is, it’s not all fiction," says Rob Hunter, a New York City Web designer whose family experienced two murders in their home. “How could they write something like that without talking to any of us?" he asks.
Earlier coverage:
ABAJournal.com: "N.Y. Lawyer: Fictional Persona Libels Me"
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