BOSTON — A federal judge rejected yesterday several memos filed by the counsel of the Martha's Vineyard landlord who is suing Mile High Media and several associates for a 2014 incident involving artwork in her rental property, which she claimed could be seen onscreen in several adult videos.
In an unusually stern ruling, U.S. District Judge Patti B. Saris lambasted three memos filed by attorney John A. Taylor, representing landlord Leah Bassett, which were filed late, deemed too long and filled with “insulting or pejorative” language towards Mile High and the other defendants.
The filings, according to a report by legal news site Law360, “focused in part on Leah Bassett’s efforts to learn how much Mile High Distribution Inc. made in profits from films shot at her home in Aquinnah, Massachusetts.”
'Emotional Distress' and Copyright Issues
As XBIZ has reported, in her original 2018 complaint, Bassett — a sometime artist whose paintings decorated her Martha’s Vineyard rental property — had named now-retired producer and director Nica Noelle and her former collaborator, Joshua Darling; the distributor of their content, Mile High; and others as defendants, accusing them in a civil lawsuit of a laundry list of violations against herself (such as fraud and emotional distress), her property and her copyrighted art.
In May 2020, Judge Saris granted Mile High and the other co-defendants their motion to dismiss counts I (Breach of Contract), II (Trespass), III (Negligence), VI (Civil Fraud), X (Civil RICO) and XI (Defamation).
Bassett was allowed to continue the lawsuit on counts IV (Chapter 93A), V (Civil Conspiracy), VII (Infliction of Emotional and Mental Distress) and VIII (Interference with Contractual Relations).
The trial is scheduled for August, 2021, after an August 2020 ruling that allowed Bassett to claim copyright on the artworks.
'Vexatious and Inappropriate'
Judge Saris gave Bassett one week to cut her 53-page motions down to the 20-page filing limit, Law 360 reported, and “excise their ‘vexatious and inappropriate’ language. Mile High and the other defendants get two weeks to respond, after which Judge Saris said she would decide whether to entertain the motions.”
Bassett’s attorney told Law360 “he will apologize to the court for the filing length oversight," and added that he "wasn’t certain what specific language in the memos the court took issue with."
