INDIA LEGAL TEAM WINS BIG APPEAL VICTORY IN CALIFORNIA

With a unanimous, landmark victory yesterday from a three-judge panel of the California Court of Appeal in Los Angeles, protecting "the free speech rights of all comedy performers and humorists," Channel Four Television Corporation and its U.S. counsel, SmithDehn LLP, utilizing the services of Indian legal outsourcing company SDD Global Solutions, have fully defeated a libel case involving a plaintiff who sought $800,000 dollars in damages, all allegedly due to the inclusion of her name in a comedy routine. (Channel 4 is the UK's second largest commercial television broadcaster, and it also is a major film producer, responsible for such award-winning motion pictures as "Slumdog Millionaire," "The Last King of Scotland," "Trainspotting," "The Crying Game," and "Four Weddings and a Funeral.")

The plaintiff in this case, who sued as “Jane Doe,” claimed that Sacha Baron Cohen used her name in a comedy “interview” by “Ali G” with the noted historian, Gore Vidal. In the interview, “Ali G” asked Mr. Vidal why there is any point in amending the U.S. Constitution, since he (Ali G) had a girlfriend (the plaintiff) who was constantly “amending herself” but to no avail.

The California Court of Appeal, in a pro-media decision that is the first appellate ruling of its kind in the U.S., affirmed the Los Angeles Superior Court's dismissal of the lawsuit, ruling in part as follows:

"The Ali G character made the statements during a comedy show in the context of an interview with Vidal involving a series of other comedic and sometimes crude statements that could not be reasonably understood as asserting actual facts. Ali G’s unremittingly facetious statements included comments about Vidal’s being a world famous hairstylist; Denzel Washington’s living in George Washington’s former Mount Vernon home; John Paul Jones being a quadriplegic; the world running out of gravity, which was discovered by Sir Isaac Newton-John; euthanasia meaning the killing of elderly people by youth in Asia; and Ali G’s face being added to Mount Rushmore. Taken in context, a reasonable viewer would have no basis for distinguishing these satirical and imaginative statements from statements purporting to detail Ali G’s prior relationship with a 'minger'.... 'To hold otherwise would run afoul of the First Amendment and chill the free speech rights of all comedy performers and humorists, to the genuine detriment of our society.'"

Channel 4’s Controller of Legal and Compliance, Prash Naik, commented as follows: "Channel 4 welcomes the appeals court decision, which upholds the summary judgment we secured last year and vindicates our two-year fight to defeat this unmeritorious claim."

The legal work in defeating the lawsuit and winning the appeal was conducted for the most part by SDD Global Solutions, the India arm of Channel 4’s U.S. counsel, SmithDehn LLP, in a groundbreaking case where “outsourcing” has proved to be a creative solution in defending against baseless litigation.

Channel 4's general counsel added: “U.S. court actions are extremely costly to run and even where a defendant wins, little if any of their costs are recoverable from the plaintiff. As so often happens in cases like this, the ‘chilling effect’ of the threat of substantial damages and significant legal costs, forces defendants to settle with plaintiffs who have no justifiable claim. However, combining the skills and expertise of US attorneys with US-law-trained Indian attorneys has proved to be an innovative and cost-effective way for Channel 4 to fight and win the suit.”

Sanjay Bhatia, SDD Global’s Head of Operations, commented that “this is a case where outsourcing created more work in the US, rather than less. Because our team made the defense affordable, US lawyers were able to do the things in the US that they do best there, such as strategizing, supervising, editing, and appearing in court. The implications of this case are huge. With legal outsourcing, baseless lawsuits can be defeated on their merits, instead of settled simply out of fear of legal fees.”

The "Ali G" decision is the third in a recent string of court victories in favor of Sacha Baron Cohen. Last November, in a unanimous opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (in New York) upheld the dismissal of three "Borat" lawsuits, ruling that the consents signed by the plaintiffs who appeared in the film were valid and enforceable. This decision is available at http://thresq.hollywoodreporter.co/borat/ Last December, the Los Angeles Superior Court dismissed the first "Bruno" lawsuit, filed by a Bingo game operator who falsely claimed that she was assaulted by Cohen and his camera crew. That decision is available at http://www.4shared.com/file/164323324/28420f25/bruno_olson_decision.html

Channel 4 Press Office:
Jane Fletcher: [email protected] / 011 44 20 7306 6317