Mo. woman loses lawsuit over ‘Girls Gone Wild’ video

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ST. LOUIS
— A jury on Thursday rejected a young woman’s claim that the producers
of a “Girls Gone Wild” video damaged her reputation by showing her tank
top being pulled down by another person in a St. Louis bar.

A St. Louis Circuit Court jury
deliberated 90 minutes before ruling against the woman, 26, on the
third day of the trial. Lawyers on both sides argued the key issue was
consent, with her side saying she absolutely refused to give it and the
defense claiming she silently approved by taking part in the party.

The woman, identified in court files only as Jane Doe, was 20 when she went to the former Rum Jungle bar in May 2004 and was filmed by a “Girls Gone Wild” video photographer. Now the married mother of two girls and living in the St. Charles area, Doe filed suit in 2008 after a friend of her husband reported she was in one of the videos.

“I am stunned that this company can get away with
this,” Doe said after the verdict. “Justice has not been served. I just
don’t understand. I gave no consent.”

But Patrick O’Brien, the jury
foreman, told a reporter later that an 11-member majority decided that
Doe had effectively consented by being in the bar and dancing for the
photographer. In a trial such as this one, agreement by nine of 12
jurors is enough for a verdict.

“Through her actions, she gave implied consent,”
O’Brien said. “She was really playing to the camera. She knew what she
was doing.”

Told of that reasoning, the tearful woman said, “I
was having fun until my top was pulled off. And now this thing is out
there for the world to see forever.”

David A. Dalton II, lawyer for the defendants, said,
“The jury listened to the evidence and made the right decision.” Dalton
said he knew before the trial began that the general reputation of
“Girls Gone Wild” videos presented him with a challenge.

Crews that produce them travel to taverns, beaches
and other tourist spots and publicly encourage young women to disrobe.
The videos also include other sexually charged episodes.

The woman’s lawyers had asked for about $5 million, including the $1.5 million they estimated the company has made on the video in question, called “Girls Gone Wild Sorority Orgy.”

Stephen Evans of St. Louis,
her lawyer, argued Thursday that Doe never gave consent — and even
could be heard in original footage saying “no” when asked to show her
breasts shortly before another woman suddenly pulled Doe’s top down.
Evans said the company usually gets women to sign consent forms or give
verbal consent with cameras rolling.

“Other girls said it was OK. Not one other one said,
‘No, no,’ ” Evans said. “She is entitled to go out with friends and
have a good time and not have her top pulled down and get that in a
video.”

Doe filed suit against MRA Holding LLC and Mantra Films Inc., both of Tulsa, Okla. No company executives testified.

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