(1939) Tags: Warner Bros.
MOOG v. WARNER BROS. PICTURES, Inc.
KUHN v. WARNER BROS. PICTURES, Inc., et al.
MOOG v. WARNER BROS. PICTURES, Inc.
Plaintiff filed this lawsuit, seeking $75,000 and charging that that the character of Erika Wolf, portrayed by actress Lya Lys, in the movie “Confessions of a Nazi Spy”, was intended to be her.
The marketing materials and as well as the movie ‘Confessions of a Nazi Spy’ referring to plaintiff, were scandalous and defamatory and rendered and made the plaintiff an object of contempt and ridicule among her friends and neighbors and those who knew her or of her, and she has been subjected to suffering in mind and body and has been caused to suffer embarrassment, ridicule and disgrace and has been prevented from pursuing her normal business and duties and has been made an object of public comment and contempt.
Judgment: Settle Order.
KUHN v. WARNER BROS. PICTURES, Inc., et al.
Fritz J. Kuhn, individually and as President of the German American Bund, an unincorporated association, instituted an action in this Court on May 15, 1939, against Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. for $5 million in damages.
Plaintiffs allege that the film ‘Confessions of a Nazi Spy’ “is a libel against the plaintiff organization, its president and its members”, and complain that “The defendants by the said moving picture, have maliciously, recklessly, carelessly, negligently, falsely, purposefully, and without any justification in fact or otherwise, attempted to and do portray to the public, that the German American Bund is a disloyal organization, fostering and/or harboring a wide German espionage system in America; and that its president and members are traitors and spies, who have committed and are committing acts of treason” and that the picture “charges the organization, its president and its members with the crime of treason; questions their loyalty and honesty as citizens, and places them before the public as criminals, a stigma which has not been placed upon them by any court of competent jurisdiction, after due trial and hearing.”