A victim of revenge porn has been awarded $1.2 billion (£944 million) in damages by a Texas jury – 12 times the amount her lawyers had requested.
The woman from Houston filed a harassment lawsuit against her ex-boyfriend Marques Jackson in 2022 in which she alleged he posted intimate pictures of her online to “publicly shame” her after they split up.
Lawyers for the plaintiff, who was referred to as Jane Doe (DL) in court documents, said the settlement was a victory for victims of “image-based sexual abuse” and hoped it would work as a deterrent to others.
“While a judgment in this case is unlikely to be recovered, the compensatory verdict gives DL back her good name,” said lawyer Bradford Gilde.
A Harris County state district court jury ordered Mr Jackson to pay the woman $200 million (£158 million) for past and future mental anguish, as well as $1 billion in exemplary damages.
The settlement trounces the $100 million the lawyers originally requested in damages.
‘Message of deterrence’
“We hope the staggering amount of this verdict sends a message of deterrence and prevents others from engaging in this despicable activity,” added Mr Gilde.
The woman and her former boyfriend began dating in 2016. She had shared intimate photographs of herself with her partner during the relationship.
When the couple broke up in 2021, Mr Jackson allegedly posted the images on social media platforms and adult websites without her consent.
According to court documents, he also sent links of the photographs to her family, friends, employer and gym through a publicly accessible Dropbox folder.
He was allegedly spying on her through a camera system at her mother’s home and had access to her phone, social media accounts and email.
At one point, the defendant allegedly sent the woman a message stating: “You will spend the rest of your life trying and failing to wipe yourself off the internet. Everyone you ever meet will hear the story and go looking. Happy hunting.”
Lawyers for the woman claim Mr Jackson posted the pictures “to inflict a combination of psychological abuse, domestic violence and sexual abuse”.
DL told a Texas broadcaster that she approached a civil lawyer after receiving little help from local police.
