The Reason Carole Baskin's Lawsuit Against Netflix Failed

Less than 24 hours after "Tiger King" star Carole Baskin filed a suit against Netflix and others in an attempt to derail — or completely halt — the release of the second season of the docuseries that made her famous, it looks like a Florida federal judge has put a kibosh on the whole affair. For those who have followed Baskin's life post-"Tiger King" craze following its March 2020 debut, the founder of the Big Cat Rescue animal sanctuary has been far from silent about her disdain of the series. On Baskin's Big Cat Rescue website, Baskin authored and posted a refutation of the show wholesale, lambasting it as a "salacious and sensational" telling of her story, along with accusing the producers of misrepresenting the content of the documentary and disseminating untruths about the disappearance of her previous husband, Don Lewis. 

But as NPR reported on November 2, the suit Baskin filed in an effort to curtail the release of the second "Tiger King" season argued that the footage filmed which featured Baskin was collected under the pretense that it would be used for only one projected — a film, or, as per the final form of "Tiger King," a limited series. "The Baskins believed that any sequel — though odious — would not include any of their footage," wrote the Baskins' attorney in their filing. Unfortunately for the federal judge overseeing the case, the courts didn't agree. 

According to Deadline, Carole Baskin's suit against Netflix was swiftly dismissed a mere few hours after it was filed, on the basis of having very little to back up claims that the release of the second season of "Tiger King" would cause irreparable damage to either Baskin or her husband, Harold — at least, damage that couldn't be rectified by financial compensation of some kind. "While the Court understands the Baskins' frustration, it does not appear that inclusion of Defendants' footage of the Baskins will cause any immediate harm that cannot be compensated with monetary damages," said the judge while delivering her ruling. The judge also noted that the timing of the suit, compounded with the scheduled release of "Tiger King 2," did not allow for Netflix to have enough time to compile a case in their defense.

It's unsurprising Baskin would file the lawsuit through her attorneys. Baskin and her husband have a veritable fortune, as the first season of "Tiger King" showed — and as the docuseries also chronicled, are extremely litigious. As the Daily Beast reported in 2019, the Baskins brought lawsuits against Joe Exotic, the first of which was filed in the early 2010s. The ongoing litigation aided in fueling the feud between both Exotic and Baskin, which resulted in Exotic's eventual bankruptcy declaration and the germination of his murder-for-hire plot against Carole Baskin — along with his conviction, 22-year prison sentence, and the "Tiger King" Netflix series.