When does verisimilitude become lawsuit?

[scribbler1382]

Hi, guys. Looking for some opinions here. There recently was a story in the news about a soldier that I wanted to use as a base for part of the book I'm currently plotting. The soldier went AWOL for 2 years with a military laptop and then showed up again sans laptop. What I want to know is, how much of that can I use in my book without having some yokel go "Dat's me!" and calling his lawyer? Of course, I'll use a different name and what I put on that laptop will have nothing to do with what was really on there. Same goes for where he was for 2 years.

Opinions?

Cheers,

-- Martin

[Mike Martyn]

I don't know the answer to your question. I read the same article in the newspaper a couple of days ago. The outfit the soldier belonged to is JTF2 which is a super secret, super scary commando unit. I would be far more frightened of what they would do than of any lawsuit! :)

[James D. Macdonald]

Anyone can sue anyone else for anything at any time. The question should be, would the guy win?

The question you should probably ask is: Would a third party, reading your story, say "Hey, that's Joe he's talking about!"

For real legal advice, talk to a real lawyer.

[Jaws]

This is not legal advice, but general comments.

Don't do it unless you're a professional journalist and have access to a good publishing lawyer. Rights of publicity have so many, many variations that one can't even begin to list them. Even a highly experienced author of biographies probably shouldn't do this, because the culture of professional journalism—that is, people who make their living reporting the news, and I don't just mean the local weekly paper with a 2500 circulation—has absorbed this better than the "mainstream" publishing culture.

[scribbler1382]

Thanks for the advice, everyone. It's pretty much what I surmised it would be, but the more voices the better. Now to morph the situation just enough so it's unrecognizable but still retains the spark I like about it.

Cheers,

-- Martin