“The jurisprudential doctrine supports the use of facts related to Mrs. Peral in the construction of the fictional world in which the series takes place. Especially if we take into account that the facts used have been extracted from a criminal case of maximum general interest that ended with a conviction confirmed by both the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia and the Supreme Court”. In this way, Netflix’s lawyers have wanted to respond to the decision of Rosa Peral, convicted of the ‘crime of the Urban Police’ to file a lawsuit in a Barcelona court to be allowed to watch the series ‘The body on fire’ which premieres on this platform next week. Peral considers that the series, starring Úrsula Corberó and Quim Gutierrez, may violate the right to honor, privacy and her own image, both of her and of her two daughters.
Peral showed her “concern” about the “treatment that said series gives” of her “public image” since “her real name is used, her real environment is fictionalized, including her two youngest daughters” and “remembers that an actress will play her as her” without the convicted agent “having ever given any permission for any of these extremes”. In his claim, Peral details that “he is a person of media interest” and that the series can “transmit and give as certain facts that do not conform to reality”, in addition to belonging to “his most intimate sphere, and that, used in an unreal way or subject to the creativity of the writing team, with the aim of making the production more profitable” can cause her or her minor daughters “an enormous present and future damage, even going so far as to harm her in her prison regime or in the granting of future permits”.
Faced with this request, Netflix’s legal advisors recall that they respect “the rights of all those who appear in the audiovisual content that it produces or broadcasts worldwide”, which includes Rosa Peral, but recall that “the responsibility derived from the production” of ‘The body on fire’ corresponds to the production company Arcadia Motion Pictures which ensures, according to the audiovisual content platform, that it acted with the “maximum diligence”. In addition, Netflix adds that the series is “absolutely protected by both freedom of expression and ‘freedom of art or freedom of creation'” and they consider that to disseminate works of “free inspiration from real characters” prior consent is not necessary.
For this reason, they recall that it is “a fictional series based on facts regarding which there is an incontestable judicial truth that has had extensive media coverage that has turned” Peral into “a public figure.” From there, Netflix warns Peral of the “serious economic damage that the claim in court” can cause for the platform, such as the request for precautionary measures to stop the premiere of the series and for this reason they reserve any claim for damages and damages against Peral.
The Court of First Instance 54 of Barcelona received Peral’s petition and opened a procedure to process them, prior to the acceptance or not of the demand. In addition, he urged the Prosecutor’s Office to rule on the competence of the court to assume this claim. The decision will be known in the coming days but for now the premiere of the series is maintained for next week.