'CSI' Producer Sued For Defamation

See Also: 'Deep Fried and Minty Fresh' Episode Guide

Real estate agents Melinda and Scott Tamkin filed a $6 million lawsuit against CSI: Crime Scene Investigation writer and producer Sarah Goldfinger on Friday, May 22 for defamation and invasion of privacy.

The Tamkins allege that Goldfinger created characters in the CSI episode "Deep Fried and Minty Fresh" that were modeled after them. The characters were named Scott and Melinda, and early scripts and casting calls listed the characters' last name as Tamkin. When the episode aired, the surname was changed to Tucker.

Changing the characters' name at the last minute is "for all intents and purposes an admission that [Goldfinger] had stepped over the line," the Tamkins' lawyer told the LA Times. According to Anthony Glassman, a potential seller could do an internet search for the Tamkins' real estate business and come across a description of the characters. If that happened, "it's highly unlikely they would ever have contacted them and wanted to retain them as a professional real estate agent," Glassman said. "In this business, you never know why the phone doesn't ring."

The lawsuit also claims that Goldfinger helped cast the actors to look like the Tamkins. The episode cost the couple business "by creating from whole cloth characters engaged in a reckless lifestyle of sexual bondage, pornography, drunkenness, marital discord, depression, financial straits and possibly even murder," according to the suit. CBS, Jerry Bruckheimer Television and Goldman, Sachs Capital Partners are also named as defendants.

The original information is from the LA Times. Thanks to mandy9578 and Shane from TalkCSI for the heads up.

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