A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the man who became an internet sensation in 2013 after a viral video earned him the nickname “Hatchet-Wielding Hitchhiker.”
Caleb “Kai” McGillvary sued Netflix and the producers of the 2023 documentary “The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker," claiming the film defamed him, violated his civil rights, and used his footage without permission.
The documentary traces his brief rise to fame and his later conviction for murder.
Judge John Milton Younge of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey ruled last week that McGillvary’s claims lacked any legal merit.
The judge dismissed the case entirely and barred McGillvary from filing any further complaints in the case.
In a related case in California, McGillvary is appealing the dismissal of another lawsuit involving the Fresno nightclub Fulton 55.
He accused the club and its general manager of using his performance footage without permission and making false statements about him in the documentary.
In a brief filed last week, attorneys for the nightclub and its operator argued that McGillvary’s appeal fails to identify any legal mistakes in the lower court’s decision to dismiss the case.
That appeal is still pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
McGillvary is currently serving a 57-year prison sentence for the 2013 murder of 73-year-old New Jersey attorney Joseph Galfy.
Judge Kirsch gave McGillvary the opportunity to read a statement in court prior to being sentenced to 57 years in state prison. McGillvary called the trial a "sham" that "railroaded an innocent man."Sophie Nieto-Munoz | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Galfy, who lived in Clark and worked at a law firm in Rahway, was found beaten to death in his home.
McGillvary claimed the killing was in self-defense, but prosecutors argued it was premeditated.
He was convicted of first-degree murder and must serve more than 48 years before becoming eligible for parole.
McGillvary first gained national attention after a local news interview went viral.
In the video, he described using a hatchet to stop a man who had attacked a woman in Fresno, California. His animated storytelling made him an overnight internet celebrity.
The Netflix documentary revisits that viral moment and the events that followed, including his arrest and conviction.
McGillvary has been representing himself in his civil lawsuits in New Jersey and California.