General Hospital has Willow Tait Corinthos (Katelyn MacMullen) suing Lulu Spencer (Alexa Havins Bruening) for libel after she published that scandalous article in The Invader accusing Willow of drugging Drew Cain Quartermaine (Cameron Mathison) and keeping him locked in.
And Lulu’s article implied Jack Brennan (Chris McKenna) might have been similarly drugged. So, right now, Willow is pretty confident she’s going to win. But the tables may turn on her. Today we’re going to talk about the possibility that Lulu gets the upper hand and absolutely crushes Willow in court.
General Hospital: Failed Settlement Attempts
All right, so we just saw Lulu luring Willow to the Quartermaine mansion on false pretenses. Lulu knows she should not contact Willow. Their only communication should be through their lawyers, as Willow told Lulu. And they wound up bickering, and she and Willow were hurling threats at each other.
So, Lulu wants Willow to drop the libel suit. But she refused and told Lulu the only way that happens is if Lulu prints a full retraction. And of course, she refused Willow’s demand. The best thing that Lulu said she could offer Willow was to print a correction saying Jenz Sidwell (Carlo Rota) was post-op, injured, and medicated. But Willow told Lulu that is not good enough. So it looks like, unless something changes, Willow and Lulu are going to trial, and you know it’s going to get messy.
Legal Hurdles for Willow on GH
Going into a civil suit for libel, the burden of proof is on the plaintiff, Willow, not on the defendant, Lulu. So, Willow’s lawyer has got to show that Lulu went after her maliciously and published false statements about her. Since Willow is a public figure, they have to prove actual malice on Lulu’s part. If she had written about a private citizen, they’d only have to prove negligence, meaning carelessness.
So, right now it feels like Willow has gaslit herself into believing she’s innocent, despite the fact she did shoot Drew and tried to kill him. And then Willow drugged Drew into a stroke and locked-in state. Yet, Willow sees herself as a victim. Now, no doubt Drew victimized Willow. But he didn’t deserve all that. And because Willow literally got away with the attempted murder of Drew, I think Willow now thinks she’s untouchable.
General Hospital: Evidence and Witnesses
And the thing is, despite the congresswoman’s confidence, Lulu could do well in court, especially once they start calling witnesses, because lots of people will take her side. I would expect that Willow’s legal team would call in Sidwell to start with, because he’ll likely stick to the story that he was injured, on serious medication, and was just lying and hallucinating. He told Dante Falconeri (Dominic Zamprogna) he was medicated and made false statements. Plus, Sidwell said he doubts Lulu had permission to be in his room.
So, Sidwell’s statements will definitely hurt Lulu’s case, because she went off his word. Plus, she trusted Sidwell, who’s a felon and known liar. But Lulu did try and get corroborating evidence. But did it in a sketchy way, because she lied to Drew to get access to his medical records under false pretenses. And that’s another strike against Lulu that Willow’s lawyer can present.
And then they can put Elizabeth Webber (Rebecca Herbst) on the stand to testify that Lulu was specifically told she could not interview Sidwell. That’s a big problem, too, because she went in there when she was not authorized to. Plus, Willow’s team might turn up footage of Lulu sneaking into Sidwell’s room disguised as a nurse. That would have Lulu looking really, really bad to the jury.
Who Will Defend Lulu on GH?
We find out by the end of the week who’s defending Lulu in the libel case. One lawyer that it should definitely not be is Alexis Davis (Nancy Lee Grahn), because in the real world, Alexis would not be able to represent Lulu, because Alexis represented Willow in the attempted murder trial, especially since Drew’s medical condition is part of the libel case.
I suspect Monet Mitchell (Blythe Howard) may actually represent Lulu, because Monet clearly didn’t like Willow or her attitude, and Monet doesn’t want Curtis Ashford (Donnell Turner) associated with Willow, especially not when she heard the governor’s not taking the congresswoman’s calls. So Monet thinks Willow’s a problem. Otherwise, Ric Lansing (Rick Hearst) might take Lulu’s case. But I think Monet would be more interesting, since she is part of Alexis’s law firm.
And Alexis might tell Monet, as a professional courtesy, what Kai Taylor (Jens Austin Astrup) and Trina Robinson (Tabyana Ali) told her about Willow shooting Drew, because that’s not attorney-client privilege. Or Alexis could just advise Monet to go talk to those two about Willow, because they’d be great witnesses for the defense to show Willow’s pattern of behavior.
General Hospital: Drew Won’t Help Lulu
But another problem for Lulu is that Drew is refusing to confirm what’s in her article. Lulu assumed Drew would confirm it, but he’s not, because he doesn’t want to help the Quartermaines, and he’d rather the spotlight remain off Brennan, and the cops looking into Willow could cause problems for Drew and Ava Jerome (Maura West).
So, if Drew is called to the stand in Willow’s libel trial, he might perjure himself openly or just play dumb. And Drew may say he has no reason to think his wife Willow shot or drugged him. You know, Drew could play dumb. He was shot in the back, so he didn’t technically see who shot him. You know, Sidwell, Nina Reeves (Cynthia Watros), and Jack all knew that Willow was drugging Drew. But Sidwell’s not telling, Nina’s in Steinmauer, Jack’s dead, and Drew isn’t confessing. So, that’s all definitely in Willow’s favor.
General Hospital: What’s in Lulu’s Favor
But Lulu has things in her favor, too. Tristan Roberts (Dean Geyer) may testify. He knows the WSB has a paralytic drug, like was in the article. Plus, he says Sidwell might have been honest, because sometimes painkillers are like a truth serum. Plus, Kai also knew Drew was drugged, in addition to knowing Willow shot him.
And if Brennan’s body is found during the trial, it could make things worse for Willow, depending on his cause of death. If it was drowning, it looks like mischance, because he was drugged. If it’s blunt force trauma that killed Jack, it could look like he was attacked, and Willow might be a suspect. Honestly, she might have killed Brennan if Willow lost her temper over Jack not getting her evidence on Michael Corinthos (Rory Gibson) and hassling her about WSB funding. Plus, Willow and Brennan had argued recently.
Also, Alexis could testify and verify that Kai and Trina told her they knew Willow shot Drew, but Alexis had to ignore it as her defense lawyer. Plus, we know Carly Corinthos Spencer (Laura Wright) will go all out to help Lulu destroy Willow. So will Michael. I’m sure Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard) will help if he can. But Lulu’s strongest weapon is that recording of Sidwell’s statement.
A recording does not automatically prove that every allegation is true. But it does prove that Lulu reported what Sidwell told her. It’ll show that Lulu didn’t simply invent this story. And Lulu recently told Detective Joe Fitzpatrick (Jonathan Bennett) that Sidwell was totally coherent during their conversation. So Joe already thinks something is up, and I think he’s going to keep pursuing the questions about Willow and about Brennan.
Future Trial Predictions on GH
And of course, there is always the chance that this will not go to court. If it goes to trial, I would expect it to kick off in November sweeps, which starts October 29th and runs for four weeks. I also expect that during sweeps is when Brennan’s body is found. Our leaker said Willow winds up in Shadybrook or Ferncliff Asylum, possibly prison. So, if Lulu is beating her in court, Willow may have a mental breakdown. Or she might fake one and wind up sent to a mental hospital instead of prison on General Hospital.
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