# can i be sued? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 10, 2001, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-be-sued/75718 "2001-08-10T03:32:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![djf750](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@djf750](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/djf750)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2001, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-be-sued/75718/1 "2001-08-10T03:32:42Z")
can i be sued for using real people (celebrities) in a fictional novel or short stories? i would have them doing strange things, being murdered by serial killers and saying stupid things in interviews. as long as these stories are clearly fictional, and not given as fact like the enquirer etc, i am wondering if this is legal. ---
**Author:** ![Jimpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c68b51/32.png) [@Jimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimpy)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2001, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-be-sued/75718/2 "2001-08-10T05:50:08Z")
People can (and in this case probably will) sue you for anything. The question is–do they have a case. (Actually, the real question is–will you find a publisher in the world who would publish your story. Answer–probably not, because on the principle of “never sue poor people” they are going to get sued. Oh, you’ll get sued too, but they’ll go after the publisher’s money.) Yes, they can sue. And even if you won, it would cost you thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars defend yourself. Can you afford $100,000+ dollars if this case goes to The Supreme Court? If the answer is “no”, I suggest you take up a different subject for your story. Also you would have to defend yourself on the grounds that you are not exploiting them solely to advance your work. Getting killed by a serial killer probably isn’t too bad (but I still don’t think you’ll get a publisher to buy it), but saying stupid things in an interview trigger a gang of lawyers. ---
**Author:** ![Darqangelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecccb3/32.png) [@Darqangelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darqangelle)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2001, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-be-sued/75718/3 "2001-08-10T08:04:41Z")
Many writers get around this by basing characters with the same traits as real people but giving them different names and different hair colours. Simple. This way you can avoid any suits by saying, “These are fictional characters. Okay, so my protagonist, John Collins, is a older Scottish actor who talks with a lisp and had his fame playing a fictional spy when he was younger, but that doesn’t mean he was based on Sean Connery… that’s just a coincidence!” ---
**Author:** ![Mousseduck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@Mousseduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mousseduck)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2001, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-be-sued/75718/4 "2001-08-11T06:37:35Z")
I don’t know if you can be sued or not, but I have noticed Michael Crichton uses real people in his novels. He puts a disclaimer in the front. The one below is an exerpt taken from \* Airframe. \* > [@](#): > > Although based on real events, this is a work of fiction. Characters, companies, organisations, and agencies in this novel are either the product of the author’s imagination or, if real, used ficticiously without any intent to describe their natural conduct. Something along those lines would probably work, so long as you weren’t being totally defamatory. ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2001, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-be-sued/75718/5 "2001-08-11T07:01:59Z")
I don’t recall any references to real people in _Airframe_, aside from perhaps actual facts mentioned in passing.