Neil Gaiman is taking legal action against one of his accusers – but it’s over a NDA, it seems, rather than what was reported.
Author Neil Gaiman has been in the news a lot this year, as allegations of sexual misconduct and sexual assault have arisen. Neil Gaiman has denied these allegations, and of one person’s accusations, he’s dismissed them as a “sham.” Several projects Gaiman was involved with, this one for example, have been stopped.
Eight different women have levelled allegations against Neil Gaiman, and New York magazine earlier this year ran extensive reporting detailing the stories of his accusers. It’s difficult for publications to run such accusations without a lot of legal work, and due diligence is, of course, required. A libel bill for a mistaken accusation is likely to be weighty.
Neil Gaiman may or may not be considering libel action, and for the sake of legal clarity, none of the accusations have gone through a court of law. Please be careful in the comments for this article, for your own sake as much as ours.
However, Gaiman has now taken some legal action. Not for libel, but for the breaking of a NDA signed by one of his accusers. He is seeking, Vulture reports, over $500,000 in damages from Caroline Wallner. He had previously paid her a reported $275,000 in exchange for her signing an NDA. That agreement apparently prohibited her from sharing her allegations with anyone.
Just as an aside, a personal opinion unrelated to any case in particular. Silencing people using NDAs is an absolute shitshow, a plaything for rich people, and the sooner they’re outlawed as a mechanism for gagging people, the better. It’s one thing when they’re used to protect business-critical information. It should be a whole other thing when they’re used to cover up matters that should be explored in a court of law, not a court of chequebook. But that’s my personal opinion, unrelated to any case.
Neil Gaiman is seeking a repayment of the $275,000, plus attorney fees, and an amount of $50,000 to Gaiman for every interview that she’s given about matters contained within the NDA.
You can read about this in more detail, here. I can’t afford an expensive lawyer, so if it’s all the same, I’m going to end this report here.
