Summary: The television network A&E allowed the signage of law firm Meltzer & Bell to be used in a documentary of insurance fraud acts of two unrelated people with the same last names as the law firm.
A criminal defense law firm in West Palm Beach is suing A&E Television and the producer of a TV program American Takedown after their firm sign ended up on the show. The signage for Meltzer & Bell law firm was featured on the documentary to represent the insurance fraud investigation of unrelated attorney Cory Meltzer and chiropractor Roger Bell.
Attorneys Larry Meltzer and Stephen Bell have no connection to the insurance fraud investigation and claim in their lawsuit that “the show made it appear that the law firm and Bell and Meltzer were the actual fraudsters, and that the law firm’s location, shown by the sign outside, was where … the actual crimes were being committed.”
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The two attorneys are seeking damages for libel per se against A&E Television Networks LLC and Warrior Poets Inc. They allege that A&E had reckless disregard for the truth by making “it appear to millions of viewers who were watching the show, that the business sing and the physical location of the law firm, (Meltzer & Bell), was the same business location where the [claimed] insurance fraud was being committed.”
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Cory Meltzer and Roger Bell do not have a business together, making the use of the law firm’s sign even more inappropriate. A&E argues they never used the names of the attorneys in the documentary.
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