Girls Gone Wild settles out of court with Becky Lynn Gritzke
Ted Daniel
"Dr. Strangelove" <stran...@rogers.com> wrote in message
news:3DA4D475...@rogers.com...
> * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
>
> CourtTV.com
> http://www.courttv.com/people/2002/1004/wild_ap.html
>
> Friday October 4, 2002
>
> 'Gone Wild' woman reaches settlement with producer
>
> TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Attorneys for a Florida State
> University student said she has settled her lawsuit against the
> producers of a "Girls Gone Wild" video in which she exposed her
> breasts.
> Becky Lynn Gritzke, a business major, contended MRA Holdings LLC
> violated her privacy when it marketed images of her flashing during
> Mardi Gras in New Orleans last year.
> The video company said Mardi Gras was a newsworthy event and that
> people who removed their clothes in public during the celebration
> forfeited their right to privacy.
> The case was scheduled for trial next week, but Gritzke's lawyers
> moved to dismiss it Tuesday when a settlement was reached. U.S.
> District Judge Robert L. Hinkle issued an order closing the case
> Wednesday.
> Financial terms of the settlement were confidential, but an
> attorney for Gritzke said MRA Holdings must stop distributing the
> video and all advertising containing Gritzke's image.
> Gritzke's suit sought damages based on her embarrassment and
> suffering as well as what it called the unjust enrichment of the video
> company as the result of the unauthorized use of her image.
>
>
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>
> GeneRossExtreme.com
> http://www.generossextreme.com/archives/dailys/100402.html
>
> Friday October 4, 2002
>
> 'Girls Gone Wild' Must Cough Up Cash
>
> Zillionaire Joe Francis who took an idea created by GM Video and
> made himself a zillion bucks with it, ain't as rich this morning.
> Francis and his Girls Gone Wild series had to cough up some bucks to
> Becky Lynn Gritzke, the former Florida State University student who
> exposed herself and became an unwitting pair of tits. Gritzke sued
> when she discovered she was in The Sexy Sorority Sweethearts edition
> of Girls Gone Wild.
> A federal judge was set to begin jury selection Monday for a
> trial in her case. She was suing M.R.A. Holding and Mantra Films,
> producers of the "Girls Gone Wild" video series, which features young
> women exposing their bodies, usually in public. Gritzke's lawyer Dean
> LeBoeuf wouldn't disclose the settlement's amount, though he said
> Gritzke was granted her request to pull all videos and ads featuring
> her off the market.
> But a ruling by U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle that Gritzke
> couldn't go after a cut of the "Girls Gone Wild" profits likely forced
> the negotiations. LeBoeuf released a one-paragraph statement Thursday;
> he could not comment further because of a confidentiality agreement.
> "The court recently ruled that defendants' profits are not the
> appropriate measure of damages in the case," the statement said. "The
> parties thereafter entered into an amicable resolution of the
> litigation. Defendants will cease all further dissemination or
> distribution of videos and advertisements containing plaintiff's
> (Gritzke's) likeness."
> LeBoeuf contended that her privacy rights were violated when the
> video was marketed, and when her picture was used in ads for it. Girls
> Gone Wild replied that Mardi Gras is a newsworthy event and that
> people who undress in public there forfeit their right to privacy.
> Ronald E. Guttman, the lawyer for the "Girls Gone Wild"
> producers, also declined to elaborate. The 25-year-old Gritzke, a
> one-time swimsuit calendar model, said she was videotaped without her
> permission when she pulled up her top on New Orleans' Bourbon Street
> at the 2000 Mardi Gras celebration.
> The footage ended up in the "Girls Gone Wild Sexy Sorority
> Sweethearts" video, which includes unrelated scenes of other women
> performing sex acts, according to court documents. Gritzke's photo
> also is on the cover and in national advertisements.
> Gritzke was Miss September 2000 in a "Women of FSU" calendar
> published by Campus Calendars. According to its Web site, she studied
> accounting and finance and is a South Florida native.
>
>
> * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
>
> 2000 SWIMSUIT CALENDAR: FEATURING THE WOMEN OF F.S.U. [Florida State
> University]
> Miss September 2000: Becky Lynn Gritzke
> http://www.campuscalendars.com/fsu/september.htm
>
> GIRLS GONE WILD: SEXY SORORITY SWEETHEARTS VOLUME 1 & 2 [DVD]
> http://images.dvdempire.com/gen/movies/42878h.jpg
> (Becky Lynn Gritzke is on the left)
>
>
> * * * * * * * * * *
>
> Becky Lynn Gritzke is featured in footage that appears from
> 0:23:29 to 0:23:49 in GIRLS GONE WILD: SEXY SORORITY SWEETHEARTS (©
> 2000 MRA Holdings, L.L.C.). She's wearing a blue tank top that, with
> both of her hands, she pulls right up to her shoulders, exposing her
> fair-sized, extremely round breasts, which have pink areolae and small
> nipples. There's a white man on either side of her, both of whom lean
> in toward her to get a better view of her breasts. (It should be
> noted that Gritzke isn't wearing any beads, but the two men are. The
> footage apparently was shot on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, during
> Mardi Gras 2000.) A few seconds after she pulls her top up, a black
> man offscreen gently squeezes her left breast with his left hand
> (which can be seen onscreen); after she pulls her top back down -
> brushing his hand off of her breast in the process - she turns her
> head toward him and exclaims with a grin, "Don't touch!" (Although a
> dubbed version of the footage was used, it's clear that this is what
> Gritzke is saying.) The scene fades to black as she walks forward and
> to her right, still grinning (and still beadless).
> Part of the footage described above is also included in GGW:
> SSS's pre-title sequence, from 0:00:32 to 0:00:37. As well, on the
> GIRLS GONE WILD: COLLEGE GIRLS EXPOSED/GIRLS GONE WILD: SEXY SORORITY
> SWEETHEARTS 2-on-1 DVD, a vidcap of Gritzke from that footage appears
> on the onscreen menu for the former (i.e., GGW: CGE).
>
>
> GIRLS GONE WILD: SEXY SORORITY SWEETHEARTS (2000)
>
> Running time:
> 0:45:12
>
> Footage featuring Becky Lynn Gritzke:
> 0:00:32 - 0:00:37 (05 s.)
> 0:23:29 - 0:23:49 (20 s.)
>
>
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>
>
Johnny
they have now and put this company out of business. And they're good videos
too.
Turin
> Great, now fifty slutty cunts are going to jump out of whatever waitress job
> they have now and put this company out of business. And they're good videos
> too.
Fuck the company and their damn profits. They probably staged this
for controversy, not caring about the repurcussions.
Feel sorry, instead, for the men who are victimized by the legislating
of women sending mixed signals as they please.
- - -
This has been another enlightening moment, with:
Turin
I have such sites to show you...
------------------------
http://members.fortunecity.com/turinturambar/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Men_First/
------------------------
"He who changeth, altereth, misconstrueth, argueth with, deleteth, or
maketh a lie about these words or causeth them to not be known shall
burn in hell forever and ever...."
-----
Hank's Still Drunk & Fun
> they have now and put this company out of business. And they're good videos
> too.
The settlement wasn't disclosed, for which most all respectable judges
and lawyers (shit, what am I saying, there aren't any) agree that it
should be public info like it always used to be for any matter handled
publicly.
Point being, she likely received very very little.
The justice comes about when her pic and vid is given away free on
Kazaa and the like, for which she'll never again see another dime, and
her publicity will likely be very unwanted by her.
However, THEN she'll probably capitalize on it when Playboy, desparate
for advertisers due to everyone getting pics for free on the internet,
calls her and asks if she'll do it again...but this time for actual
money.
Then she will for the second time whore herself out, and *then* claim
"emotional hardship damages" when she sues Playboy for not paying her
enough to begin with.
AHHHHH the rewards of living in the good ole' u-s-of-a.
Dr. Johnson
"Hank's Still Drunk & Fun" <hank_th...@myself.com> wrote in message
news:5d31bfc1.0301...@posting.google.com...
At times the judicial system reminds me of a game with very intricate rules.
If you play your cards right, you never know what you can bilk out of the
right company. It also doesn't hurt to go up against an entity that starts
out with a bad public image by default, like girls gone wild or the big
tobacco companies.
Turin
At times the suburban middle class male reminds me of the world's most
calculated whiner.
If he "plays his cards right" he can sue all the companies he wants,
win huge settlements if he's able, sell liberalism over the counter at
work, be the biggest liberal in the world whenever convenient, and
then run to listen to his favorite talk radio show, and still play the
victim.
- - -
This has been another enlightening moment, with:
Turin
I have such sites to show you...
------------------------
http://members.fortunecity.com/turinturambar/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Men_First/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Men_Politics/
Hank's Still Drunk & Fun
What?
What's with that reference?
The person who did THIS suing was a female. Remember? She had
BREASTS and was supposedly upset about having not made any money off
them.
Dude, EVERYONE can do calculated whining. TONS of urban, suburban and
rural females, poor, middle class and rich, engage in frivolous
lawsuits, it happens every friggin day. It's not a gender/demographic
problem at all.
(Unless that "female" was actually a middle class suburban male with
breasts, in which case I stand corrected and uninformed...and what an
entertaining lawsuit THAT must've been).
Dr. Strangelove
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Miami.com (Knight Ridder Digital, Inc.)
http://www.miami.com/mld/miami/news/local/4620602.htm
Wednesday November 27, 2002
'Girls Gone Wild' producers win federal lawsuit
Associated Press
ORLANDO, Fla. - A federal judge ruled that the makers of the
popular "Girls Gone Wild" video series did not violate the privacy
rights of a 17-year-old girl who exposed herself on a public street in
Panama City Beach.
U.S. District Judge Anne [C.] Conway ruled on Tuesday against the
plaintiff, [University of Central Florida (UCF) student] Veronica Lane,
saying Lane consented to the filming and distribution of her image and
likeness even though she was just 17 years old.
Lane was seeking unspecified damages arguing the film, its
creators, producers and distributors had violated her right to privacy
and had cast her in a false light by including her in the "Sexy Sorority
Sisters" video. [In actuality, Lane appears in GIRLS GONE WILD: COLLEGE
GIRLS EXPOSED, which originally was released with GIRLS GONE WILD: SEXY
SORORITY SWEETHEARTS as a 2-on-1 VHS (#7005)/DVD (#8001) offer.]
Conway ruled that the defendant, Mantra Films, who produces the
"Girls Gone Wild" videos, did not have to compensate Lane for using her
likeness in the videos.
MRA Holdings LLC, Ventura Distribution Inc. and Woodholly
Productions Inc. [a post-production company] were also named as
defendants.
The ruling also said the videos are an "expressive work created
solely for entertainment purposes" and that while Lane's image were used
to help sell the video, she was never shown "endorsing or promoting a
product."
In early Sept. [more specifically, on Labor Day weekend] 1999,
Lane, along with a friend, flashed their breasts to a cameraman while in
a car. The duo did so in exchange for beads.
Lane's image was used in the "Sexy Sorority Sisters" video. Lane
later contended that she did not know that her image would be used in a
commercial video.
While Conway called the "Sexy Sorority Sisters" video more
"explicit" in the ruling, she concluded that there was nothing
connecting Lane with the other sexually explicit images in the video.
Messages left at the home and office of Lane's lawyer,
Orlando-based Joe Tessitore, were not immediately returned Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Mantra Entertainment President and CEO Joe Francis
called the ruling landmark and said the decision should help diffuse any
future lawsuits against his video line.
"I see it as ending all pending and all future litigation because
it has been decided," Francis said from Los Angeles. "We were always
confident that we were on the side of the law. We knew lawyers would
come after us."
A remaining fraud charge against Mantra has yet to be decided, the
ruling said.
In October, a Florida State University student [Becky Lynn Gritzke]
settled a lawsuit against the "Girls Gone Wild" video producers after
she was filmed flashing her breasts during Mardi Gras in New Orleans
last year [in actuality, two years ago].
Financial terms of the settlement were confidential, but MRA
Holdings had to stop distribution of the video [GIRLS GONE WILD: SEXY
SORORITY SWEETHEARTS] and all advertising containing the student's
image.
* * * * * * * * * *
PR Newswire Association LLC
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/12-02-2002/0001850494
Monday December 2, 2002
Girls Gone Wild Producers Win Landmark Federal Lawsuit
Federal Judge Officially Dismisses Florida Case Setting New Precedent
ORLANDO, Fla. -- The producers of the Girls Gone Wild videotapes,
Mantra Films, announced today that they have won a milestone federal
court case in Florida. The federal court ruled Tuesday that Mantra
Films did not violate the privacy rights of then 17-year-old Veronica
Lane by using images of her exposing her breasts in the company's famous
video series on a public street in Panama City Beach, Florida.
In the precedent setting 29-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Anne
Conway rejected assertions by Lane that Mantra should pay her for using
her likeness for commercial purposes. According to Judge Conway, "the
Girls Gone Wild video is an expressive work created solely for
entertainment purposes. [In these videos] Lane is never shown endorsing
or promoting a product."
The court decision also found that Lane consented to the use of her
image by exposing herself in exchange for beads and that her young age
did not invalidate the consent. "Florida law has never recognized that
a minor is incapable of consenting to publication of her image and
likeness where no compensation is involved," according to the court.
Lane claimed she had been placed in a "false light" because her
video [GIRLS GONE WILD: COLLEGE GIRLS EXPOSED] had been marketed with
Sexy Sorority Sweethearts, a title described by the judge as containing
"even more extensive and offensive sexually explicit scenes." After
reviewing both videos, the judge concluded there is "no suggestion,
implication, or innuendo" connecting Lane with the other scenes.
Thomas R. Julin, attorney for Girls Gone Wild, said, "I expect the
decision to bring to a halt other claims made against Girls Gone Wild.
The Privacy Law does not protect people who choose to appear in public,
clothed or otherwise."
Mantra Entertainment is the leading producer and distributor of
reality-based programming worldwide. Mantra was formed in 1997 when Joe
Francis recognized the opportunity to develop reality-based,
direct-to-consumer video titles that did not fit the traditional mold of
studio-distributed product. Over the past five years, the company has
established its reputation by creating such key franchises as Banned
From Television and the pop-culture phenomenon Girls Gone Wild.
Turin
I got the impression that you guys might also be referring to
something about gender hypocrisy, and taking the line of discussion
about it somewhere that I've frequently seen.
In such arguments, companies who sell the issues along with their
products tend to get some kind of a free ride, as though they are just
innocent bystanders in all of this.