The Long Beach, Calif., model, named as a Jane Doe in a lawsuit, said she feared for her life because her home address was allegedly published on TheEroticReview.com, which hosts escort reviews, site reviews, discussion boards and live chat.
Doe, who owns a members-only subscription website through her Kentucky-based company BFN LLC, not only made infringement claims but also included charges of defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress, because TheEroticReview.com’s David Elms allegedly used the model's real birth name in a domain name.
The civil complaint alleged that “Elms directed his anger and vengeance at Doe because she refused to engage in sexual intercourse with him and because Doe refused to allow her name to be published on a website he controls.”
But earlier this year, the court indicated that it would decline to hear most of Doe’s claims against Elms and his company, Elms Web Services, with the exception of copyright infringement.
Since May, Elms and Elms Web Services have not been represented in court and a default judgment was entered.
Doe, who has been represented by attorneys Louis Winner and Michael Fattorosi, is seeking damages over alleged infringement for five sets of images, equaling $20,000.
“These photographs and website designs stemmed from four different photo shoots,” a brief to the court said. “The anonymous plaintiff is a model, and in the ordinary case of her modeling business she regularly charges $4,000 per photo shoot.”
U.S. Judge George H. Wu asked for Doe to submit her proposal of the default judgement by Dec. 10.
For most of the year, Elms has been incarcerated at North Kern State Prison in Delano, Calif., after he jumped bail after he was arrested on murder conspiracy charges after allegedly hiring a hit man.
Phoenix police said that Elms was seeking to contract out a hit to have a 32-year-old online adult model and escort killed, as well as a 62-year-old male webmaster who owns a competing escort review site.
Elms fled the U.S. after posting bail of $150,000, possibly traveled to Dubai and then tried to return back to the U.S. through Mexico, authorities said.
