Disabled vet sues Michael Moore for $85M
Last Updated: Thursday, June 1, 2006 | 11:59 AM ET
CBC Arts
A veteran who lost both arms in the war in Iraq is suing filmmaker Michael Moore for $85 million US, saying Moore misrepresented him in the film Fahrenheit 9/11.
Sgt. Peter Damon, a National Guardsman from Middleborough, Mass., says Moore twisted excerpts from an interview he gave to NBC's Nightly News to portray him as anti-war.
"The work creates a substantially fictionalized and falsified implication as a wounded serviceman who was left behind when Plaintiff was not left behind but supported, financially and emotionally, by the active assistance of the President, the United States and his family, friends, acquaintances and community," Damon says in the lawsuit, according to the Associated Press.
Former National Guard Sgt. Peter Damon says filmmaker Michael Moore's portrayal of him as anti-war has caused "loss of reputation" and "personal humiliation."
(David W. Oliveira/AP Photo/New Bedford Standard Times)
He is claiming damages because of "loss of reputation, emotional distress, embarrassment, and personal humiliation," the lawsuit filed in Suffolk Superior Court last week says.
Damon claims that Moore never asked for his consent to use a clip from the interview. The clip, which shows him talking about an "excruciating type of pain," referred to pain from his injuries, rather than a complaint against the war effort, he says.
Damon, 33, lost his arms when a tire on a Black Hawk helicopter exploded while he and another reservist were servicing the aircraft. Another reservist was killed in the explosion.
Filmmaker Michael Moore didn't ask for permission to use interview film clip, wounded veteran claims.
In Fahrenheit 9/11, an image of Damon lying bandaged on a gurney was shown right after comments from U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott, who says: "You know, they say they're not leaving any veterans behind, but they're leaving all kinds of veterans behind."
Damon contends that Moore's positioning of his image just after the congressman's comments makes him appear as if he feels like he was "left behind" by the Bush administration and the military.
In his lawsuit, Damon says he "agrees with and supports the President and the United States' war effort."
The lawsuit contends that Damon was adequately supported after suffering his injuries and, at no point, did he feel "left behind."
Damon had surgery and physical therapy, learned to use prosthetics and live independently while recovering from his wounds at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Homes For Our Troops, a not-for-profit group, built him a handicapped accessible house.
Moore did not immediately return calls seeking comment Wednesday.
