Constitutional Law

11th Circuit: 2 girls in 'Wild' video to remain anonymous

By By The Associated Press

ATLANTA ? The names of two underage girls who filed a lawsuit against "Girls Gone Wild" video producer Joe Francis should remain under wraps, and a federal judge should reconsider whether the names of the other two plaintiffs should be made public, a federal appeals court ruled yesterday.

The decision by a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals vacates the order of a Florida federal judge, who had rejected a request by the four women to remain anonymous while filing the lawsuit.

"The district court failed to give due consideration to the concerns the plaintiffs raised about being forced to maintain the suits in their own names," Chief Judge Joel Dubina wrote in Plaintiff B v. Francis. "Justice should not carry such a high price."

The women, who are now in their 20s, filed suit in federal court in Florida in March 2008 using only their initials. The lawsuit claims Francis exploited them by filming them flashing their breasts and engaging in other sexual activities in Panama City, Fla. It claims the women were ridiculed, ostracized and forced to leave school when the videos were released.

Attorney Rachael Pontikes argued at an October hearing that releasing their names publicly would forever brand the girls as "porn stars" on a global stage. "Whenever anyone types any of their names on Google, they will link to these sexualized images," she argued.

Florida Freedom Newspapers Inc. and the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association waded into the First Amendment fight after Pontikes filed the appeal. Their attorneys argued that while reporters may not necessarily publish the names of the girls, they deserve the right to exercise the journalistic discretion to do so.

But the 11th Circuit panel disagreed, finding that the plaintiffs proved a genuine need to keep their identities cloaked. "A general plea for 'openness' is not convincing in light of the strong evidence the plaintiffs have presented of their need to maintain anonymity," the court said.

The panel's order allows two of the plaintiffs filmed in sexual acts, who filed the lawsuit under the pseudonyms "B'' and "V," to remain anonymous. But the panel drew a different line for the other two plaintiffs, dubbed "J'' and "S," who were videotaped flashing their breasts for less than a minute while sitting their car.

The order directs the court to reconsider their request to remain anonymous, and suggests the judge could help them keep a measure of anonymity by "allowing them to maintain pseudonyms but permitting public access to the courtroom."

Pontikes praised the ruling as one that "will help protect the plaintiffs and sets a good precedent for other victims of sexual exploitation."

John Bussian, a lawyer for Florida Freedom Newspapers Inc., said his clients were considering the next step.

The lawsuit is one of dozens that have targeted Francis, who built a porn empire producing and marketing videos of young women exposing themselves on camera.

He has also landed in a different type of legal trouble: He has pleaded guilty to criminal charges of not having kept proper records involving one of the plaintiffs, and he was convicted in state court in Florida of coercing another one of the plaintiffs into prostitution as a minor for paying her $50 to appear on camera.

The panel's opinion warned of grave consequences if the four were identified. At the very least, the judges said, online sites will list them as "stars" of the videos and anyone entering their names in search engines will find links discussing their appearance.

"In a worse scenario, an audience of voyeurs, pornographic consumers and pedophiles will create a heavy demand for these links, pictures, and videos, knowing they provide an easy way to obtain some explicit sexual images of minors," the judges wrote.

Full post as published by First Amendment Center on February 01, 2011 (boomark / email).