RIAG Files “Libel In Fiction” Lawsuit
RIAG and our co-counsel, Neville Johnson of Johnson & Johnson, and Prof. Rodney Smolla (author of the leading treatise, Law of Defamation), have filed a lawsuit on behalf of Ronee Sue Blakley – singer, musician and Oscar-nominated actress (Nashville). Ronee Sue had a daughter in 1988 with a man named Carroll Cartwright, which led to a long and highly acrimonious custody battle. Cartwright wrote a script about a long and highly acrimonious custody battle, which he presents as an adaption of the Henry James novel, What Maisie Knew, but is, as he has freely admitted in press interviews, based on his own experiences. The script was made into a film of the same name which was released in 2013 with Julianne Moore playing the mother, and Steve Coogan as the father. Cartwright based the mother character very closely on Ronee Sue, and the film makes her out to be a complete monster, whereas in reality, she was an utterly devoted mother and she is devastated and appalled by being portrayed in the film as this terrible mother. The complaint was filed in LA Superior Court on April 18, and has been extensively covered in the press, e.g., http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/screenwriter-sued-making-henry-james-697876