A lawyer who represented a Needham man featured in an episode of the Netflix investigative series “Dirty Money” is suing the online streaming service and nine other defendants in a defamation lawsuit filed in Middlesex District Court last month.
Released in late March, the episode features interviews with John Savanovich, an elderly former Needham resident who alleges the local attorneys he hired in 2015 used the conservatorship system in Massachusetts to steward the sale of six run-down properties he owned near the town’s border with Newton. Episode 9 of the second season is titled “Guardians, Inc.” and the description on Netflix says, “The rampant abuse of laws meant to protect the elderly has left many seniors penniless, powerless and isolated from their families.”
On Aug. 18, lawyers representing Nicholas Louisa, one of the attorneys Savanovich hired, filed a 38-page complaint claiming the episode defamed Louisa’s reputation by presenting a false narrative that left out key circumstances related to the real estate transactions and legal proceedings highlighted in the Netflix documentary.
Along with the charge of defamation, Louisa’s complaint says the release of the Netflix episode in March constituted intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress.
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| New development on land once owned by John Savonovich |
The suit claims that, as a result of the episode, Louisa has been targeted with threats and harassment.
Louisa lawsuit presents different narrative
The narrative presented by Netflix features a seemingly mentally fit 74-year-old Savonovich who provides detail on how he came to hire Louisa. According to Savonovich, Louisa eventually used money from a property sale to have Savonovich declared mentally unfit and moved to an assisted living facility in Dedham.
In the lawsuit, Louisa denies those allegations, claiming the Netflix documentary misrepresented the case.
According to a copy of the complaint, “the [Dirty Money] episode reports, falsely, that Attorney Louisa committed crimes and ethical violations in fleecing a ‘bewildered’ Savonovich out of millions of dollars by causing the police to remove him from ‘his childhood home’ and transferring him ‘against his wishes ... to an assisted living facility’ so that [Louisa] and his colleagues could sell Mr. Savanovich’s real estate and leave him ‘totally penniless and a ‘ward of the state.’”
According to Louisa’s complaint, Savanovich sought the legal assistance as the town prepared to enter into receivership proceeding that took place in Dedham District Court in 2016. According to filings from those proceedings, the condition of Savanovich’s property at 26 Highland Terrace was, “unfit for human habitation and endanger[ed] or materially impair[ed] the health, safety and well-being of occupants, neighbors, and/or the public.”
After helping Savanovich sell the property on Highland Terrace, Louisa used money from the sale to address, in part, real estate taxes Savonovich owed. Louisa’s lawsuit says he became increasingly concerned over his elderly client’s health and well-being after a December 2017 wellness check by Needham police found him living in allegedly squalid conditions and suffering from frostbite.
In November 2019, Louisa’s representation of Savanovich ended after Probate Court proceedings that he initiated found Savanovich mentally incapacitated and appointed Attorney Alexandra Golden as his legal guardian and conservator, the lawsuit notes. According to the lawsuit, the approximately $3 million collected from the sale of his remaining properties is used to pay nursing home bills for Savanovich along with a monthly stipend.
Louisa v. Netflix, Et Al. - Complaint Aug. 18, 2020
Defamation lawsuit targets media defendants
Co-defendants in the lawsuit filed by Louisa include Jigsaw Productions and its subsidiary Muddy Waters Productions, the companies hired by Netflix to produce the “Dirty Money” episode, and an Essex County attorney.
The lawsuit claims the attorney, who attempted to intercede in Savanovich’s case and whose interviews appear in the Netflix documentary, provided information, including impounded court documents, to the “Dirty Money” episode’s producers and another co-defendant, the owner of the Peabody-based print and web publication Boston Broadside.
The case may be headed to federal court after attorneys representing Boston Broadside filed a request Sept. 14 to move the trial from to the First U.S. District Court in Boston because it deals with First Amendment issues, Universal Hub reported Wednesday.
Defamation claims against a media defendant constitute a federally based claim independent of the Massachusetts defamation common law claim and First Amendment implications in the case mean Louisa and his attorneys have a constitutional burden to show the falsity of each statement cited in Louisa’s claim, according to a copy of the venue change request filing.
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Louisa v. Netflix, Boston Broadside, Et Al. - Venue Change Sept. 14, 2020
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