Sundance Sued for Defamation after Publicizing Real Estate Mogul went from “Rags to Riches to Rags”

David A. Siegel filed a complaint against Sundance Institute, Inc., and Lauren Greenfield, director of the film “The Queen of Versailles,” for defamation. Siegel is the president and CEO of Westgate, a development company which owns 27 resorts. One of those resorts is in Park City, Utah, where the Sundance festival is held annually.

In 2007, Siegel agreed to allow Greenfield to shoot a documentary on the construction of his 90,000 square foot home, “Versailles.” While Greenfield and her crew filmed the documentary, Siegel provided free accommodations to them. He also relayed to Greenfield that he had “successfully resolved his financial issues [which resulted from a credit freeze after the financial crisis of 2008] and that Westgate remained highly profitable.” Siegel claims Westgate’s “sales remained strong.”

Once the film was finished, Sundance picked “The Queen of Versailles” for the festival and scheduled it to be shown opening night. A Sundance press release originally described the film as the following:

Jackie and David were triumphantly constructing the biggest house in America- a sprawling 90,000 square-foot palace inspired by Versailles- when their timeshare empire collapses and their house is foreclosed. Their rags-to-riches-to rags story reveals the innate virtues and flaws of the American Dream.

Siegel claims this description included false statements, specifically: “their timeshare empire collapses,” “their house is foreclosed,” and a “rags-to-riches-to rags story.” After he complained, Sundance released a new description, however that too described the movie as a “rags-to-riches-to rags story.” Even then, the original description was already published on 12,000 websites.

Siegel claims that as a result of the released description of the film, Siegel has been “shunned by customers and the business community, specifically [in] the Park City area.”

A take away for film producers- Protect yourself by getting the appropriate waivers when involving anyone’s life story in a film. Aside from waiving the right to sue for defamation, the waiver should also include a waiver for privacy claims and consultation rights.

Sundance Sued for Defamation after Publicizing Real Estate Mogul went from “Rags to Riches to Rags”, 5.5 out of 10 based on 2 ratings

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