Case: TV show. Romeo and Juliette

TV show. Romeo and Juliette

Alzhan Stamkulov
Synergy Partners Law Firm

We were approached by a TV studio. After the TV program, an aggressive man began to call. Let’s call him Erbol. He did not like the recent broadcast. He intended to file a lawsuit against the TV studio. The anger was overwhelming him. The client was puzzled. We thought that these are scammers who try to extort money on different bases. Indeed, Erbol did not bluff and filed a lawsuit against the studio. The cause was in the following events.

On live, one guy – the main character of a talk show told about his one and only beloved girlfriend who died 4 years ago. Let's call this guy Zhandos. Zhandos showed live various photos of his girlfriend. A beautiful girl named, let’s say, Zhaniyagul, suddenly died. This was 4 years ago. He did not even have time to propose to her and marry her. He shared on-air with his deep feelings and that he cannot forget such a loss, and he suffers. Love of his life.

Two days after the show was broadcast live, Erbol contacted the studio, asked to remove all the records of the program and said that he would come with a lawyer. He did not watch the broadcast. The studio recorded his contacts just in case of the need for feedback. We advised them to find out all the circumstances, since there may be signs of fraud.

Erbol told the client that during the show the guy Zhandos showed photos of his wife. Erbol showed photos and documents of his wife. Indeed, Zhaniyagul is the wife of Erbol. Zhaniyagul herself was alive, in full health and confirmed that it was her in the show.

The client was confused. After all, before the TV show (talk show) Zhandos gave a written receipt that his story is real, unreasoned, he guaranteed reliability. Erbol demanded compensation for moral damage. All this resembled swindling, but our suspicions were not confirmed.

Erbol filed a claim for moral damages against the studio. We, on behalf of the studio, attracted Zhandos as a third party in this case, to transfer all the risks to Zhandos in regression in case of defeat. Later, Erbol filed another suit against Zhandos.

During the trial it was found out that Zhaniyagul really corresponded with Zhandos in Internet, and even sent him her photos under her fictitious name Merkegul. Later, she apparently decided to get rid of the virtual admirer and wrote to him that she was in a terrible accident, suffered severe fractures, and due o that she is supposedly a lifelong invalid, cannot walk and is going to be in a wheelchair forever. Romeo did not back down, continued to pour out his passionate love. She offered to break up. Then she wrote that she got cancer and was in a hospital in the United Arab Emirates, where she most likely would die, since her diagnosis was fatal and she was left to live a couple of days only. Anyway, Zhaniyagul, dying in the UAE, said her last goodbye to Zhandos, and Zhandos said his last goodbye to her. For unclear reasons, Zhandos willingly believed this awkward lie.

By a strange coincidence, Erbol's relatives watched the talk show. Relatives, of course, recognized their daughter-in-law Zhaniyagul from the pictures in the talk show. They immediately called Erbol, telling him that some guy on a TV show says that he loves their daughter-in-law and they think that she is cheating on Erbol.

Everything was seemingly okay for Erbol, and here he has such news. Not knowing the whole family drama, but apparently bad news and rumors in families were spread at the speed of light, because everyone wanted to tell the breaking news first and even to discuss with tea! Erbol began to suspect his wife of treason. His mood was extremely lousy.

In court, we defended the studio. The hero of the show, our simple guy Zhandos, came to court with his mother. In court Romeo recognized his love and collected all the evil and jealous glances from Erbol. Zhaniyagul tried to hold herself with dignity, but it was obvious that she was nervous, she was sitting like on a fried pan and intuitively feeling the upcoming troubles.

The court interviewed Erbol, Zhaniyagul, us on behalf of the studio, and Zhandos to clarify the circumstances of the case. Zhaniyagul, of course, explained and swore on what she could, that she had not met with Zhandos, had never seen him.

To the great happiness and relief of Zhaniyagul, Zhandos confirmed that he had not met Zhaniyagul in person, but communicated 4 years ago by phone and corresponded via computer. He did not know her true name.

Strong and assertive mother of Zhandos was arguing, and said that her son suffered so much, that Zhaniyagul is this and that, as she did not feel sorry for Zhandosik. Zhandos made the impression of a very simple-hearted guy without the elementary skills of critical thinking, who lives his quiet peaceful life.

The brain of Erbol was boiling, trying to separate the truth from the lies, and his emotions tore him apart. But he could not hide his zeal, angry views and lousy mood in court. It seemed that Zhaniyagul, who had been finally caught in court, was afraid to return home. Without hesitation, the judge eventually ordered poor Zhandos to pay moral damage to Erbol for just over 200,000 tenge.

The campaign of Zhandos on the TV program turned out for him as a loss and opened his eyes on an ugly truth. If a simple guy Zhandos did not come to court, then the studio could have been hit on a tort and solidarity grounds, and the amount of moral damage could be high for legal entities.

Of course, all the names in the case are fictitious, all coincidences are random, and the case is slightly changed and made up. All copyrights belong to Synergy Partners Law Firm LLC.