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Nobody likes it when their name gets dragged around in the mud. Elisabeth Thieriot, a San Francisco philanthropist and filmmaker, was the subject of an article appearing on an online blog, and one in which she vehemently takes exception to the allegations presented in it. She is taking the website to court asking for a hefty settlement.

Photo: Elisabeth Thieriot (right), Raul Julia-Levy (left)

The article appeared on a website called “The Wrap” which purports to cover Hollywood news and gossip much like this one, with the exception that we infuse our stories with opinion and incredibly brilliant wit unlike their own(!). The article she is challenging is well-written but incredibly dry to the point I almost fell asleep half way through it, but I will try to summarize the pertinent points for our readers.

The article discusses a film project called “Revelations of the Mayans 2012 and Beyond” and relies heavily on “documents” and an interview obtained from the film’s producer, Raul Julia-Levy. He is an actor and producer in Mexico who we infer has been feuding with Elisabeth Thieriot, who was cited as the Executive Producer in the piece. You can read their article in full here.

Through these purported documents and interview, Raul Julia-Levy apparently told The Wrap that Elisabeth had fled their shooting location in Mexico “with two dozen hard drives and 10 computer towers containing the film’s footage.” She also alleged that Thieriot set up the project in Mexico without obtaining the permits required for filming on federal land in that country.

And then we have this juicy quote directly from their interview with Raul Julia-Levy:

“She [Elisabeth] ran away with the footage. She was informed not to leave the country, but she did. We are extremely sad and disappointed that Mrs. Thieriot did this, and we will pursue this with all the arms of the law.”

Elisabeth Thieriot maintains that none of these allegations are true and she is taking the website to court for publishing the story. According to the gossip website TMZ, she is represented in her case by a prominent national attorney named Larry Stern who has brought actions in 25 states and tried cases in ten according to his professional profile. He would put the fear of God into anyone. You can read TMZ’s reporting on the story here.

On the face of it, the story appears to me to be professionally presented. There are no allegations made by the writer himself, Steve Pond, but rather he is reporting on what other people have said which is what journalists do. The article notes that he followed a journalistic standard, not required but advised, to reach out to the other side for comment on the story before publishing. He says that he reached out to Thieriot by email and through her Facebook page, which by the way is apparently here.

Elisabeth Thieriot’s point appears to be that the author (and publisher by proxy) should have known that the information was false. And that is one of the standards for defamation by journalists in this country as I understand it. You cannot print information that you know, or should know, is false, regardless of what someone told you. In practice such knowledge in foresight is a very high bar to prove, so I believe that unless it can be shown that Steve Pond had some significant prior insight into the film project, or a connection with Raul Julia-Levy himself, then Elisabeth Thieriot may have an uphill battle on her hands.

She may be able to afford the cost of the litigation though, and often fighting for your name is worth the price. On the Facebook page, Elisabeth Thieriot is identified as the president of Lions Gate Corporation in San Francisco, which is a company in the cosmetic industry not to be confused with the movie distribution company called Lions Gate Corporation in New York.

She has been doing this gig for the last seven years according to her professional profile here. Some years before that she was president of a company called Thieriot Holdings. Elisabeth obtained a degree in broadcast journalist from the prestigious New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) in 2007, and at one time she was president of the National Association of Professional Women (NAPW), a professional networking organization for women.

She is also a substantial local philanthropist in San Francisco. Among other helpful projects, she is a long-time member of the Board of Directors for the Saint Francis Memorial Hospital Foundation. You can watch an interview with her discussing philanthropic activities in the Youtube video below.

In reading about Elisabeth Thieriot and listening to the video interview she comes across as a brilliant, hard working woman with a generous heart who would not harm a fly. If the allegations are indeed false, and she says they are, then a grave injustice has been done. However it seems to me that her beef is best with Raul Julia-Levy himself, assuming he said these things, rather than The Wrap website or its author, Steve Pond.