Sounds Like a Villain to Me

An item from Associated Press: a husband-and-wife real estate team is suing a writer-producer on the TV show “CSI” for naming “two shady characters” after them, supposedly in revenge for a real-life home transaction that went sour. The couple is seeking $6 million in damages for defamation, invasion of privacy, and loss of income.

Plaintiffs Melinda and Scott Tamkin cite an episode of CSI featuring a character named “Melinda,” a real estate agent who dies under questionable circumstances, and a second character “Scott,” “Melinda’s” booze-swilling, porn-gazing, mortgage-brokering husband, who is named as prime suspect. In their complaint, the Tamkins say that the original surname of the characters was Tamkin (changed to Tucker in the shooting script) and that actors who physically resembled them were auditioned for the roles.

In speculating on his clients’ loss of income, the Tamkins’ attorney Anthony Glassman says, “In this business, you never know why the phone doesn’t ring,” as in MAYBE that CSI episode has something to do with it. Glassman claims that certain online postings about the episode have used the original characters’ surname “Tamkin,” which he contends could have created negative impressions during Web searches for the actual Tamkins.

I was a real estate agent for five years so I’m also qualified to speculate the reasons behind the Tamkins’ dormant phone. Perhaps it’s because of the shell-shocked housing market. Perhaps the Tamkins are spending more time suing people than prospecting. Or maybe, that CSI episode really did hurt Melinda and Scott’s reputation…”Did you know Melinda was murdered? Scott was the prime suspect. I saw the whole thing on CSI. Well, I’m not listing my house with them!”

But we’re missing the true tort here. The writer-producer-defendant from CSI is Sarah Goldfinger. No word yet if Ms. Goldfinger is suing the estate of Ian Fleming for naming James Bond’s most nefarious adversary after her.