Michigan Woman Wins $500,000 Award in Revenge Porn Case

OAKLAND COUNTY, MI — A Michigan woman whose ex-boyfriend posted nude photographs of her on multiple websites was awarded $500,000 by an Oakland County judge Wednesday in a revenge porn case her attorney says may be the first case of its kind in Michigan.

The woman’s attorney did not name his client in an interview with the Detroit Free Press, but said the ex-boyfriend lives in Macomb County.

“My client was tormented for a year and a half over this occurrence," lawyer Kyle Bristow told the newspaper. "Before I got involved, she tried to plead with these websites to remove the photos. It was like a horrific game of Whack a Ball. ... She was scared that she had a stalker out to get her. It affected her employment and her attendance at college. ... She's very happy with the results we've procured.”

The concept behind revenge pornograpy, a relatively new phenomenon that has made headlines around the country is simple: To use the victim’s most intimate moments to degrade and humiliate, and to engage thousands or millions of strangers on the internet to participate in that act. Often, the victim’s contact information is also posted.

The perpetrators are usually ex lovers who have either taken or obtained photos of their former partners and post them online in retaliation. Bristow, who has represented dozens of victims in Michigan and Ohio, said victims are overwhelmingly women.

In the current case, the woman’s ex-boyfriend, who also wasn’t named because doing so would identify the victim, set up a fake Gmail account a year ago and began impersonating the woman. A photographer who had taken the nude photos in a private modeling session believed it was the woman and released them to the ex, who then posted them on several revenge porn sites.

The woman became aware of what he had done from friends who had seen seen the photos circulating on the internet.

Oakland County Circuit Judge Martha Anderson, who awarded the monetary damages, also granted a permanent injunction against the ex-boyfriend and required him to destroy the photos and never republish them to third-party websites. The award is set to accrue interest over time.

Revenge porn was criminalized in Michigan legislation that was signed into law in April and took effect last month. Under the law, a person who distributes sexually-explicit materials with the intent to threaten, coerce or intimidate another person faces a $500 fine and up to 93 days in jail. Second offenses and subsequent offenses are punishable by a $1,000 fine and a year in jail. Similar laws are now on the books in 34 other states and the District of Columbia.

With criminal statutes in place, the number of revenge porn websites has dwindled, according to Bristow, who has worked with other lawyers to shut them down.

For more on this story, go to the Detroit Free Press

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