From today's decision in Williams v. Netflix, Inc. by Chief Judge Colm Connolly (D. Del.), which denies Netflix's motion to dismiss (for more backstory, see here):
Plaintiff Rachel DeLoache Williams has sued Defendant Netflix, Inc. based on Netflix's portrayal of Williams in its docudrama series Inventing Anna…. Here, at least two sets of alleged defamatory statements are actionable at the motion to dismiss stage. Williams's 9th set of alleged defamatory statements reads as follows:
After several scenes about the problems with the credit cards at the Hotel and the private museum tour, there is a long scene in which Noah is shown meeting Williams and suggesting to her that they leave immediately because of the "bad situation." At first, Williams says that the problems are over and suggests that they stay but Noah persists, and she gives in. She finds Anna who is alone in her room, drinking heavily and depressed.
Williams tells her that they are leaving, making a bogus excuse. Sorokin begs her not to leave her, but Williams leaves anyway. She and Noah pack and leave the Hotel immediately, leaving Sorokin alone with a hotel guard stationed outside her room.
Williams's 10th set of alleged defamatory statements reads as follows:
NEFF: Please, Rachel abandoned Anna. Kicked her when she was down, and left her alone in some foreign country. Rachel's happy to call herself Anna's friend when it meant free shit, trips to Morocco, but as soon as times got tough … Some friend.
Williams plausibly alleges that both sets of statements are false statements of fact and defamatory. For falsity, she argues that Williams did not "abandon" Sorokin when Sorokin was "alone, depressed and in trouble" but rather that Williams told Sorokin she was leaving in advance, that Sorokin had company when Williams left, and that Sorokin did not appear to be upset. For defamatory meaning, Williams argues that she "is falsely portrayed as a fair-weather friend who abandoned Sorokin when she was alone, depressed and in trouble in Morocco, and needed help and support" and that "[t]hese are negative personal traits or attitudes that Williams does not hold."
