Texas woman awarded $1.2 billion in damages in revenge porn case

A woman in the United States was awarded a $1.2 billion settlement after a Texas jury ruled that she was the victim of "revenge porn". The woman from Texas who filed the lawsuit in 2022 claimed that her ex-boyfriend sent personal pictures of her to her family, friends, and coworkers via fake online accounts.

The identity of the woman has not been revealed, she went by her initials D.L. in court documents. She filed the lawsuit in Harris County against her former boyfriend Marques Jamal Jackson. The lawyers had initially requested $100 million in damages from the jurors.

She claimed in the suit that Jackson obtained the images while they were dating and posted them on social media platforms and adult websites "with the intent to embarrass, harass, torment, humiliate, and publicly shame" her. The court document revealed that they started dating in 2016.

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In a statement carried by US media outlets, Bradford Gilde, the lead trial lawyer, said: "While a judgment, in this case, is unlikely to be recovered, the compensatory verdict gives DL back her good name."

Referring to the amount that was initially asked, Gilde said that "we hope the staggering amount of this verdict sends a message of deterrence and prevents others from engaging in this despicable activity."

According to the lawyer, this ruling is a symbolic win for victims of "imaged-based sexual abuse," known as "revenge porn," which is used to inflict "a combination of psychological abuse, domestic violence and sexual abuse".

Gilde said: "The punitive verdict also is the jury's plea to raise awareness of this tech-fueled national epidemic."

The lawsuit also claimed that Jackson hacked into his ex-girlfriend's mother's home security system to spy on D.L. after the two split up. It is claimed that following the breakup, Jackson was informed he could no longer use the home security system.

Cases related to revenge porn are rising in the US. Nearly all 50 states, including Texas, have approved legislation outlawing revenge porn,except Massachusetts and South Carolina.A bill to ban revenge porn was presented by Massachusetts lawmakers last year, but the legislature is currently considering it.

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