‘Baby Reindeer’ $170M Defamation Case Against Netflix Gets 2025 Trial Date

The $170 million defamation case against Netflix over Baby Reindeer is heading to trial next year.

On Tuesday, a federal judge set a start date of May 6, 2025 for Fiona Harvey’s big swing action against the streamer. The proceedings are estimated to last about two weeks.

Netflix had no comment about the trial start date for the Emmy winning Richard Gaad created and starring series when contacted by Deadline today. However, the Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters run company did reiterate its earlier statement that they “intend to defend this matter vigorously and to stand by Richard Gadd‘s right to tell his story.”

Sending a bit of chill through the true crime creative community, the lawsuit by Gaad’s real-life stalker Harvey, who was partially the inspiration for the breakout show’s chilling Martha Scott, was filed on June 6.

That was mere days after Harvey publicly declared on Piers Morgan’s UK chat show that Martha was based on her – an assumption that Gaad has thrown some degree of cold water on in statements in response to the Harvey’s suit. “Martha Scott is not Fiona Harvey,” Gaad said in a July 28 declaration backing Netflix’s attempt to get the matter dismissed. “Like all characters in the Series, Martha is a fictional character with fictional personality traits that are very different than Harvey’s.”

In his declaration, Emmy nominated Gaad avoids the “this is a true story” slate that appears at the beginning of Baby Reindeer. Hyperbole aside, Harvey’s big bucks defamation suit spotlights that “true story” text as  “the biggest lie in television history.”

Still, the streamer’s defense in part so far, and its efforts to get the case tossed, rests on Harvey’s claims being “insufficiently pled.” Netflix and their Latham & Watkins lawyers in a September 4 filing further argued that “given the fictional Series’ context, including disclaimers and cinematic elements, that is hardly sufficient to state any claim against Netflix—and certainly not one for defamation.”

Historic or not, with the global success of the dark comedy, Harvey’s legal action has attracted quite a bit of attention. Regardless, even with the trial date set for next year, it is going to be a bit of hike before anyone is in front of jury on this one – if at all.

For one thing, Judge R. Gary Klausner has also sent the whole over to mandatory Alternative Dispute Resolution a.k.a. mediation. “Pursuant to Local Rule 1615, the parties in every case must select an ADR settlement procedure,” Judge Kaluser wrote on September 10.  “The final meeting with the parties’ settlement officer must take place no later than 45 days before the Final Pretrial Conference.”

With a finite date of March 7, 2025 for the parties to work a settlement instead of clogging up the already backlogged courts, the mediation process will run parallel to the standard lead up to a trial of summary judgement filings, discovery, and more. To that, Harvey and her NYC Roth Law Firm and LA-based attorney Allen Hyman this week submitted a boatload of exhibits and other documents under seal.

The timing of the trial start date announcement comes as Baby Reindeer is up for an armful of awards at the 76th Primetime Emmys ceremony this weekend.

Having already won the Outstanding Casting for a Limited or Anthology or Movie and the Outstanding Picture Editing for a Limited or Anthology or Movie awards this past weekend at the Creative Emmys, Baby Reindeer is in the running with the big kids this coming Sunday. Among its remaining nominations, the show is up for Best Limited or Anthology Series and a Lead Actor in a Limited series and writing nod for Gadd himself, as well as a Best Supporting Actress nom for co-star Jessica Gunning.

The second Emmy Awards of 2024 will air on ABC, except if you are a blacked out DirecTV subscriber, on September 15.