Netflix has been forced to pay a notorious drug smuggler thousands of pounds over a scene in drama Cocaine Coast that depicts him and his wife having sex.
Laureano Oubiña, who was imprisoned for trafficking hashish and for money laundering, successfully sued the streamer for €15,000 (£12,696) for invasion of privacy in a Spanish court.
The judge also ordered Netflix to axe the brief scene, which happens in the opening moments of the series and only shows the actors’ backs, according to The Times.
Oubiña, 78, previously launched proceedings against Netflix when Cocaine Coast was released, claiming the series caused him ‘moral damage’.
He was seeking €1.5million (£1.26m) in damages.
Last year, Oubiña’s lawyer said: ‘The life of Mr Laureano Oubiña has worsened considerably since the broadcast of this series because he is portrayed as a person capable of taking the life of another, violent, sexist, a cocaine trafficker, impotent, vicious, unfaithful, a bad father, a bad husband, a brute, foolish, vengeful, an abuser of women, ignorant and a mafioso.’
However, the court on Thursday completely dismissed the claims.
The judge said that an artistic project ‘inspired by reality’ cannot be subject to a ‘demand for veracity.’ They added that the character of Oubiña in Cocaine Coast was not ‘very different’ from the image and ‘conduct’ he projected over the years.
Cocaine Coast is based on the rise of drug clans in Galicia in the 1980s and 1990s. Actor Carlos Blanco plays Oubiña.
Oubiña’s case is the latest in the line of a string of lawsuits against Netflix including, most notably, Baby Reindeer’s ‘real Martha’ Fiona Harvey.
Harvey is suing the streamer for $170,000,000 (£132,000,000) for defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, and violations of her right of publicity.
It comes after she claimed to be the inspiration behind the character of Martha Scott in the drama, who stalks creator Richard Gadd’s character Donny Dunn after he serves her a free cup of tea in the pub where he works.
Former Vanity Fair photo editor Rachel DeLoache Williams is also suing Netflix over her depiction in drama Inventing Anna, while earlier this month the streamer settled a suit with Linda Fairstein over docuseries When They See Us.
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