Filmmaker Errol Morris has won another round in his legal battle with Joyce McKinney, the woman who became famous in the 1970s during the "manacled Mormon" sex scandal.
The former American beauty queen was alleged to have abducted and raped Mormon missionary Kirk Anderson while he was touring England in 1977.
Their bizarre story unfolded in salacious detail in two newspapers, the Daily Mirror and Daily Express, as they fought to out-scoop each other.
And the saga was told by Morris in Tabloid, a documentary film first screened in London in October 2010, which I regarded at the time as a "a sad tale of old Fleet Street."
McKinney sued Morris and others responsible for the film, alleging - among other things - that she was tricked into giving an interview to Morris.
A Los Angeles judge dismissed many of McKinney's allegations, including her claim that the film had defamed her and violated her likeness and privacy.
McKinney appealed, and on Tuesday (15 October), a California appellate judge, Elizabeth Grimes, ruled that the film was in the public interest and was protected by first amendment rights.
But it isn't over yet. Though McKinney cannot revive her defamation action, nor other claims previously rejected, there is likely to a trial over her claim that Morris misrepresented his film to her and caused her emotional distress.
Source: Hollywood Reporter
