Texas Woman Awarded $1.2 Billion In Revenge Porn Lawsuit

Texas jury awarded a woman with $1.2 Billion ruling that the woman was the victim of revenge porn. 

The woman who just used her initials DL in court documents won the revenge-porn lawsuit against her former boyfriend who uploaded her unsolicited intimate pictures online intending to 'public shame' her. Furthermore, he uploaded the pictures to a public folder on the Dropbox sharing link with the victim's family, friends, and colleagues having access to it while also tagging her work colleagues and even people from her gym. 

The Jury Rules

In the case filed by the woman from Texas, she claimed that her ex-boyfriend shared her intimate pictures for several months circulating them across the various sources on the internet after their relationship ended. 

The man allegedly created a website, a publicly accessible Dropbox folder by setting up fake social media profiles through various emails. He also shared the images on pornography websites. Some of the pictures were shared by the woman with the accused man when they were in a relationship but there was no consent involved for sharing them. 

According to the lawsuit, the accused also had access to the woman's phone, social media accounts and emails, as well as security camera access to her mother's home which he used to spy and stalk her. 

At one point the man blackmailed the woman by sending her the text message that read, "You will spend the rest of your life trying and failing to wipe yourself off the internet. Every person you will ever meet will hear the story and go looking for it. Happy Hunting."

The woman then sued her ex-boyfriend whom she began dating in 2016 and broke up in 2021. The woman sued him in Harris County, Texas district court in April 2022. The defendant (ex-boyfriend) did not appear in court even after a year-long trial period nor did he hire an attorney. Furthermore, he did not respond to the court summons, as per the documents of the court.

The lawyers of the woman claimed that her ex-boyfriend posted pictures to inflict a combination of domestic, psychological and sexual abuse on the victim. The lawyers said the settlement was a win for all the victims of image-based sexual abuse. 

The accused man's absence in the court did not save him from the jury ruling out his crime. As on Wednesday he was ordered to pay $200 million for mental anguish in the past and future as well as $1 billion for exemplary damages that he caused. 

Bradford Guide, the lead lawyer in the trial, in a statement said that the judgement of this case is unlikely to be recovered, and the compensatory verdict gives the woman back her good name. They also hope that the staggering amount in the verdict will send a message to deterrence and prevent people from engaging in the despicable activity. 

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