Fiona Harvey claims to be the woman who inspired the character of Martha and filed a suit with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California alleging defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, and violations of her right of publicity. The full document can be read here. She’s seeking monetary damages of over $170 million. Harvey’s complaint states, “The lies that Defendants told about Harvey to over 50 million people worldwide include that Harvey is a twice-convicted stalker who was sentenced to five years in prison and that Harvey sexually assaulted Gadd.” Well, no. It doesn’t. It claims that this is what happened to a fictional character named Martha Scott, as Harvey’s name was never used in the show nor mentioned in any of the press or promotional materials for the series.

“Defendants told these lies, and never stopped, because it was a better story than the truth, and better stories made money,” the lawsuit continued. Well, scripts based on a true story do not have any requirement to be completely accurate, and embellishment for a better story, is part of storytelling. But again, Gadd’s story never once names Harvey nor did Netflix ever claim that Martha is based on Harvey. The only reason anyone even knows that Harvey is the alleged stalker is because she herself claimed as such on social media.

“As a result of Defendants’ lies, malfeasance, and utterly reckless misconduct, Harvey’s life had been ruined. Simply, Netflix and Gadd destroyed her reputation, her character, and her life,” the suit continued. I’m not a lawyer, so it would be irresponsible for me to speculate further. Still, I will note that even one of the earliest newspapers to write about Harvey as the possible Martha, The Daily Record in Scotland, reported that it was online fans who first speculated that she was the stalker, and it wasn’t confirmed until Harvey herself did so on Facebook.