Scarlett Johannson, a Book and How to Avoid Defamation

By: Thomas Kraft


BLUE BELL, PA--Defamation is defined as damaging the good reputation of someone; also known as slander or libel. When one party defames another, said party can be brought to court and sued where, if found guilty, they will typically pay damages to the defamed while sometimes also facing punitive repercussions depending on the severity of the defamation.
 
     The most recent of defamation cases was with actress Scarlett Johansson and French novelist, Grégoire Delacourt, who used Johansson’s likeness in his most recent novel, "La Premiere Chose qu'On Regarde" (The First Thing We Look At). Although the character in the book was only described as looking like Johansson she felt that her presence in the book was inappropriate as this particular female character had many affairs. For these reasons, she sued the author.
 
     The judge ruled in Johansson’s favor demanding she be paid for lawyer fees and damages which was only 10 percent of what she originally requested.  How did she win the case, you may ask?
It’s simple, really. She’s a large public figure and her likeness is worth something. In legal terms, however, she sued Delacourt for making false claims about her private life and exploiting her image.  The judge threw out the latter charge because there wasn’t sufficient evidence to uphold the claim of exploitation.
 
     So, how can you avoid being sued for defamation? One author, Michael Crichton, depicted one of his characters, Mick Crowley, almost identically to New Republic columnist Michael Crowley after Crowley bashed one of Crichton’s novels in a column. There was only one brilliant thing that Crichton decided to do.  He described the character Mick Crowley as having a small penis.  That way, if Crowley had sued for defamation, he would be admitting to having a small penis.  An interesting, yet effective, loophole to say the least.

     Another effective way to avoid a lawsuit for defamation is to simply leave major public figures out of your fictional stories and stick straight to fact with non-fictional stories about them. The only way that someone would have a case against you for defamation is to slander or libel his or her name for something that didn’t happen.