The company that makes
Girls Gone Wild DVDs is seeking to overturn a verdict awarding $5.4
million to a US woman who claims her bare breasts were recorded without
permission.
St Louis Circuit Judge John Garvey last month sided
with Tamara Favazza in her suit against Mantra Films Inc and MRA
Holdings LLC, awarding her $5.4 million. She was a 20-year-old college
student in 2005 when someone lifted her tank top during a party at a St
Louis bar, exposing her breasts. Another person filmed it. She later
discovered the recording was part of the Girls Gone Wild Sorority Orgy
DVD series.
Favazza claimed in the suit originally filed in 2008
that she did not give consent and the resulting DVD damaged her
reputation. A St Louis jury sided with the DVD makers in 2010, but a
retrial was granted.
Garvey issued his ruling on March 5. On
Wednesday, the defendants filed motions asking that the judgment be set
aside and a new trial granted.
Jeffrey Medler, a lawyer for Favazza, said he will "vigorously oppose" any effort to overturn the ruling.
Several
messages left with David Dalton, the last listed lawyer for Mantra
Films and MRA Holdings were not returned. Phone calls to Mantra Films'
office in California went unanswered.
Girls Gone Wild videos and
DVDs, featuring young women exposing themselves on camera, have made a
fortune for founder Joe Francis. But he has been targeted with dozens
of lawsuits from women who said they were upset at being filmed.
Francis was originally named in Favazza's suit but was dismissed from
the case in 2009.
The video was made at a bar then known as the
Rum Jungle near the St Louis riverfront. Earlier court testimony
indicated that a woman acting as a contractor for Girls Gone Wild
pulled down Favazza's shirt at the shoulder strap, exposing her breasts.
Favazza,
now a 26-year-old wife and mother, claimed that she only became aware
of her appearance in the video when a friend of her husband pointed it
out. She sued soon after learning she was in the video.
Three
months after a jury sided with Girls Gone Wild in 2010, the judge in
that case, John Riley, ordered a new trial, ruling that the verdict
didn't reflect the weight of evidence. He wrote that it was clear in
the video that Favazza was an "unwilling participant," saying she is
seen mouthing the word "no" as her shirt is pulled down.
But
lawyers for Mantra Films and MRA Holdings said at the first trial that
signs posted at the bar explained how the video would be used.
The
case took another twist in January when Dalton withdrew as counsel.
When the judge heard the case on February 17, Favazza's lawyer
presented their case, but there was no representative for Mantra Films
or MRA Holdings.
In asking for the judgment to be set aside,
Dalton wrote that the defendants "reasonably and rightfully believed
they were still represented by counsel and that the cause was being
defended."