According to a court filing submitted Tuesday, plaintiff Nona Gaprindashvili and defendant Netflix agreed to end the defamation dispute over the studio’s “The Queen’s Gambit.” The stipulated dismissal comes after the district court sided with the plaintiff in denying Netflix’s motion to dismiss and Netflix’s subsequent appeal.
The suit dates to last September when Gaprindashvili accused Netflix of making defamatory statements about her in the Netflix miniseries. The complaint came after she allegedly tried, without success, to get Netflix to remove the contested dialogue: a chess commentator’s remark that “‘[t]here’s Nona Gaprindashvili, but she’s the female world champion and has never faced men,’” a line spoken during a fictional showdown between the fictional female protagonist and a Russian competitor.
Gaprindashvili’s civil suit, filed in Los Angeles, Calif., argued that this was both untrue and harmful to her reputation as a female chess pioneer who had indeed played men. The amended complaint stated claims for false light invasion of privacy and defamation per se and sought damages of more than $5 million.
Netflix argued for dismissal of the suit, contending that the series was a fictional work that a reasonable viewer would not construe as conveying objective fact, alongside “substantial truth,” and free speech defenses.
This January, the district court ruled that Gaprindashvili’s defamation claim could proceed against Netflix, finding that she had made a prima facie showing of the required elements.
The production studio appealed the ruling the following month. Before merits briefs were filed however, the parties engaged in mediation and settled the dispute for an undisclosed sum and with unknown conditions.
Gaprindashvili is represented by Rufus-Isaacs Acland & Grantham LLP and Netflix by King & Spalding LLP.
