A federal pass judgement on has discovered that Netflix can have defamed a Kentucky guy whose image used to be lifted from his social media for significance in a documentary that allegedly implied he used to be eager about a homicide.

Within the 2023 true crime documentary The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker, a photograph of Taylor Hazlewood is proven, with audio announcing “stone-cold killer” and captions declaring, “You can never trust anyone.” He sued Netflix in April, claiming that footage of him have been taken with out his wisdom from his Instagram and that significance of the pictures have been defamatory as a result of the “sinister” context through which they have been proven.

The documentary facilities on Caleb Lawrence McGillvary, who rose to viral stardom in 2013 when he stored a lady by way of bludgeoning her assailant with a hatchet sooner than he used to be upcoming convicted for the homicide of an lawyer in an unrelated incident. Netflix worn a photograph of Hazlewood, who wasn’t concerned within the crime, posing with a hatchet.

U.S. District Pass judgement on David Godbey on Wednesday declined to brush aside the declare for defamation, discovering that the sound and temper of the scene through which Hazlewood’s image used to be proven will have falsely accused him of against the law. He pointed to allegations that Netflix’s significance of the picture “caused individuals to believe that he is himself, or is associated with, a criminal.”

In his grievance, Hazlewood cited reactions from nation who watched The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker. “So something not so chill happens later in the documentary,” a pal texted him. “Your picture shows up again after he’s charged with murder and its just bad vibes.”

Any other good friend messaged: “Dude this is so weird but I’m watching this murder documentary and they start flashing a bunch of peoples pictures and I said that is Hazlewood. Did they steal your photo? How did you get on there?”

Shifting for dismissal of the lawsuit, Netflix argued that the documentary by no means explicitly accused Hazlewood of against the law. “Nothing in The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker can be reasonably labeled as accusing Hazlewood of anything, much less a specific crime,” a attorney for the corporate wrote in a court docket submitting. “To the contrary, even Hazelwood’s allegations confirm that innuendo is the only way a viewer could reach the warped and implausible conclusion Hazlewood alleges in his complaint: that despite the clear subject and focus of the film (Kai, the hatchet wielding hitchhiker), Hazelwood’s presence in two montages suggests he too is a criminal or worthy suspicion.”

Godbey concluded that the corporate didn’t “determine the context and ownership of the photograph” sooner than using it and didn’t download Hazlewood’s consent. This additionally served as the foundation for the pass judgement on advancing a declare for invasion of privateness in opposition to Netflix.

“This is sufficient to make a plausible claim of intrusion,” he wrote. “While Netflix alleges that the photo was publicly available, Hazlewood’s contention is that this photograph was private.”

Hazlewood’s declare for misappropriation of likeness used to be brushed aside as a result of he failed to turn that there’s industrial worth in his emblem, like there may be with a folk determine or social media influencer. Godbey mentioned, “Hazlewood did not plead additional facts showing any specific value such as reputation, prestige, notoriety, or skill associated with his likeness and therefore has not made out a plausible claim of misappropriation.”

Hazlewood used to be given the probability to recovery the declare.