LOS ANGELES — Tamara Favazza, the woman who won a $5.77 million judgment after she sued over the non-consensual use of her image in a Girls Gone Wild video, will collect at least $100,000 from the company that is under bankruptcy protection.
Favazza, however, could gain much more — perhaps up to $5.3 million more — depending on the price of the Girls Gone Wild brand, which is being sold at auction next month, and other assets.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sandra recently approved the plan for Favazza, as well as a plan to sell off the trademark and domain assets of the longtime adult entertainment brand.
Favazza’s legal award stemmed from an incident in 2004 at a bar in downtown St. Louis, where a Girls Gone Wild crew was filming “Girls Gone Wild Sorority Orgy 2.”
According to the suit, a production assistant pulled off her shirt, and she sued for emotional distress and invasion of privacy.
She claimed that she never gave Girls Gone Wild, or operator Joe Francis, permission to film her.
It's been tough road for Favazza trying to get Francis or his company to pay up after she won the award. After paring the companies' operations, Francis shifted them to GGW Direct LLC through a shell company called Pablo Holdings LLC in Nevis/St. Kitts "in order to frustrate collection efforts," court records said.
Numerous Francis bank accounts were closed after the judgment and garnishments from more than a dozen companies that do business with Francis didn't yield a dime.
Favazza even sought a order to take over some of Francis' assets, including a $2 million jet that seats 22 people, a $10 million house in Bel Air, Calif., a $30 million beachfront mansion in Punta Mita, Mexico, and one or more vehicles valued at more than $100,000.
But bankruptcy stopped the collection efforts. Last year, four companies behind Girls Gone Wild’s operations filed for Chapter 11 protection to block Favazza and Las Vegas hotel mogul Steve Wynn and his resort company from taking the companies’ assets as repayment for debts.
In the case of Wynn and his hotel, Francis allegedly owed $2 million in gambling debts.
