Judge: Parents must pay son back after purging porn ‘trove’
OTTAWA COUNTY, Michigan — A Grand Haven couple must pay their 42-year-old son back after destroying the son’s extensive pornography and sex toy collection, according to a federal judge.
Paul and Beth Werking, of Grand Haven, were sued by their son David Werking after they destroyed his collection of DVDs, VHS tapes and other pornographic materials in 2018. The son estimates the value of his collection to be around $25,000.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court in April 2019. In the lawsuit, David Werking claimed his parents illegally destroyed a large amount of pornography that he had left behind at his parents’ house when he moved out at the “request of local law enforcement” in August 2017. The son now lives in Indiana.
According to emails between the father and son, the collection of items included 12 moving boxes “full of pornography plus two boxes of sex toys.” David Werking included an itemized list of the destroyed property, including 1,605 individual titles of pornographic DVDs and VHS tapes.
There is also a list of at least 50 sex toys and paraphernalia. He originally valued the items to be worth $28,940.72, but said many of the titles are irreplaceable. In later court filings, the items were listed at $25,557.89.
“Frankly, David, I did you a big favor by getting rid of all this stuff for you,” Werking’s father wrote in an email, citing concerns for his son’s emotional and mental health.
The elder Werkings were unwilling to transport the porn to their son in Muncie, Ind., and were uncomfortable with having the items in their home. The Werkings admit to destroying their son’s property.
The Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office reviewed the material and determined none of the films included any child pornography.
David Werking argued in the lawsuit that his parents’ destruction of the pornography constituted the property being converted into the parents’ “own use.” Judge Paul Maloney agreed with that argument, meaning the Werkings’ son is eligible to receive up to three times the monetary value of the destroyed property in damages.
Although a final judgment amount has not yet been determined, the Werking parents and son have until Feb. 16, 2021, to file written submissions on the amount of money owed for the destroyed pornographic materials.
The parents’ attorney, Anne VanderBroek, said she has requested a production of documents from the son’s attorney to help determine the costs of damages in the case.
“We have to let the process work,” VanderBroek said. “The judge issued his order and they won, so all that’s left is to determine the damages.”
VanderBroek said she’s hired pornography expert Victoria Hartmann, the executive director of the Erotic Heritage Museum in Las Vegas, to help determine those damages.
2 comments:
What is a used dildo worth? Does porn value lessen with age? Who had to watch all the porn to determine that there wasn't any child porn in the collection? The cops or a professional porn watcher? Are there really an expert witnesses on pornography?
Yeah. They are called SCOTUS.
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