California porn site told to pay women $12.7M after 'secret' steamy sex videos leaked online
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA: A group of 22 women won a lawsuit against a San Diego-based porn website GirlsDoPorn after a judge ruled that the site was guilty of fraud and breach of contract.
The women, identified as "Jane Does 1-22", had said that the website had lied to them about how the x-rated videos would be used, according to Associated Press. The court ruled that the website will have to pay $12.7 million to the women. Of this, $9.45 million is in compensatory damages collectively and $3.3 million in punitive damages. The 22 women were also given ownership rights to their pictures and videos that were produced by GirlsDoPorn. The videos went on to be posted on other porn sites as well.
The women had said that they were not only deceived but also coerced into making the videos. Also, they had no idea that they were going to be distributed online, the Union-Tribune reported.
The website was also ordered to take the explicit videos down and mention in their recruitment ads that videos would go online. Moreover, the women who sign up for these productions should also have the legal agreement they would sign ahead of time and the company should have their permission to use their names and other personal information.
“The money’s one thing but these guys have ruined (the plaintiffs’) lives and we have to clean this up as much as possible,” Ed Chapin, the lawyer for the women said.
The four-month-long trial was presided over by San Diego Superior Court Judge Kevin Enright who ruled against the 13 defendants in the case.
The judge found all of them guilty and liable because they operated as one business entity. Defendants included site owners Michael James Pratt, 36, and Matthew Isaac Wolfe, 37, and adult film actor Ruben Andre Garcia, 31.