High five! Court tells teacher she cannot sue Borat over his £100m film

By IAN MARKHAM-SMITH

Last updated at 08:44 21 January 2008

A woman who claims she was humiliated after appearing in Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat film has been told she cannot sue.

In Cultural Learnings Of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation Of Kazakhstan, etiquette teacher Kathie Martin is shown at a dinner party in Alabama where Baron Cohen, in character as the Kazakhstani reporter, embarrasses the guests.

She wanted to claim damages against him and the film's makers, but Alabama's Supreme Court said she had signed an agreement that only courts in New York could hear disputes arising from her appearance.

She unwittingly appeared in his unexpected worldwide box office smash hit "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan."

The justices said Ms Martin cannot sue 36-year-old Cohen and the companies that produced the movie in Alabama because she signed an agreement stating only courts in New York could hear any disputes that arose from her appearance.

Several other people who appeared in the 2006 movie have filed suit claiming they were duped into appearing in the comedy, which grossed more than £100 million British pounds.

They include South Carolina university students, a Maryland driving instructor, Romanian villagers and a businessman who was shown fleeing from a hug from Cohen in New York.

In the film, Cohen plays a journalist from Kazakhstan travelling across the United States in search of Pamela Anderson.

He gives out random high fives and says "Very nice!" all along the way, misunderstanding American culture at every stop.

During a segment in Alabama, Borat sought etiquette lessons from Ms Martin and is shown in the movie presenting guests at a dinner party with a bag of human faeces.

Justice Mike Bolin wrote in the Supreme Court's ruling: "It is sufficient to say that an eventful meal ensued during which the alleged reporter engaged in behaviour that would generally be considered boorish and offensive."

Ms Martin sued Cohen, Twentieth Century, One America Productions Inc., Everyman Pictures, Dune Entertainment, MTV Networks, Comedy Central, Dakota North Entertainment Inc. and Four by Two Production Co., claiming she was embarrassed and humiliated by her encounter with Borat.

A lower court sided with Ms Martin in April and let the case go forward to allow Ms Martin to seek unspecificied damages.

But the Supreme Court ruled that the agreement Ms Martin signed specifying New York as the site for any disputes meant Alabama courts could not hear the case.

Ms Martin has not commented on the ruling, nor has Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp., which distributed the movie and which she also sued.

In February last year, a judge threw out a lawsuit brought in Los Angeles Superior Court by the two college fraternity members shown guzzling alcohol and making racist remarks.

They claimed the scenes tarnished their reputations. But three other lawsuits are still making their way through the American courts.

Driving instructor Michael Psenicska, who is seen in the comedy admonishing the fake Kazakh reporter for yelling insults at other drivers, sued Cohen and the movie makers in December.

Psenicska claims he was duped into participating in the film after it was described to him as a "documentary about the integration of foreign people into the American way of life."

A hearing is due soon at the Manhattan federal court. Psenicska said he was paid £250 in cash to give Borat a driving lesson.

He described the experience as "surreal," saying Cohen drove erratically down residential streets, drank alcohol and yelled to a female pedestrian he would pay her £5 for "sexy time."

The lawsuit seeks £200,000 in actual damages and additional punitive damages for misleading Psenicska and for emotional harm he continues to suffer.

Last June, financial analyst Jeffrey Lemerond - seen in the film running away from Borat down the streets of New York City - sued Twentieth Century Fox in federal court in Manhattan.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and says the filmmakers caused emotional damage that he continues to suffer.

Lemerond, who works for a hedge fund in New York, claims claiming he suffered "public ridicule, degradation and humiliation."

A hearing is expected later this year. Also pending is a case involving two residents of a Romanian village who sued Twentieth Century Fox for £15 million, claiming the film wrongly depicted them as rapists, abortionists, prostitutes and thieves.

The scenes depicting Borat in Kazakhstan were actually filmed in Romania. Fox has consistently maintained that such lawsuits have no merit.