On Point Legal News – 10/15/07:
A Tennessee woman who thought her children were safe watching the Disney Channel when she left them in a motel room has won $85,000 in damages from the motel for failing to prevent them from accessing a hardcore porn channel.
A Los Angeles Superior Court jury found the Value Lodge motel of Artesia liable for the psychological trauma the two daughters, aged 8 and 9, of Edwina McCombs suffered as a result of seeing what her lawyers described as “hardcore pornography with close-up images of people engaged in various homosexual sexual acts.”
The motel claimed to have posted signs informing guests they could have the adult channel turned off by the front desk, but plaintiff’s expert Alan Snyder told the jury he had never been to a family-type motel that offered direct access to porn.
“Whatever happened to personal and parental responsibility?” asked one. “I would never leave my kids with full access to a hotel TV without checking what was on all channels and making sure the desk knew no porn was allowed in my room for the duration of my stay.”
Motel Hell Rules!
maybe with all that cash she could buy some comom sense…
or perhaps common… maybe i should get a dictionary?
Stories like this make my faith in common sense die a little more.
Who exactly leaves kids that young alone in a hotel room long enough to figure out how to SELECT the porn channels?
If I was the Motel owner, my lawyer would be on the phone discussing charges with the County Prosecutor before the ink dried on the original lawsuit.
Sue me from the inside of a Jail if you want….
It’s not at all unusual to post those signs or otherwise restrict access in the room. The guy who said he’d never seen it, either doesn’t get out much or is a liar.
To a great extent today, a jury is made up of people who don’t have the “pull” to get out of Jury Duty. Considering the pay and other hazards (not to mention a disruption of family life) we’re lucky we get any Justice at all….
Regards,
Stu.
The greater crime here is that A Los Angeles Superior Court jury found the Value Lodge motel of Artesia liable for the psychological trauma the two daughters, aged 8 and 9, of Edwina McCombs suffered as a result of seeing what her lawyers described as “hardcore pornography
Psychological trauma ?!?!?!
Give me a freaking break…
Isn’t this what makes Americuh great? It’s the land of opportunity for anybody to sue anybody!
I always ask them to block the religious channels, they are worse.
Where did the trauma argument figure in over the years with kids learning about sex? That they’re innocent until they learn?
I ate great food as a kid, yet nobody accused me of guiltily experiencing a tongue-gasm before I turned 18. But if I experience an orgasm, watch out! I’m suddenly “wise beyond my years” and could be traumatized for life.
Amazing. The article said she “put the Disney Channel on for her daughters while she used the bathroom”, and they evidently channel-surfed their way to hardcore homosexual porn.
Personally, I keep the remotes away from my spawn, even at home. Mostly because I don’t want to restart the same Thomas and Friends DVD again because we’re watching E! all of a sudden.
Here’s my new plan—rent a hotel room. Put Disney on the TV. Hand the remote to Max and go take a crap. Come back in the room and hope CSI or Larry King is on so I can sue the hotel for not blocking channels that might cause “psychological trauma” to my offspring. We could use $85k.
Ysy Merica!!
The TV is the single most destructive invention in the history of mankind.
If you want to save the lives of your children and yourself, THROW IT AWAY. Keep your home TV free.
The TVs in many hotel rooms make it very easy to accidentally end up with porn on your tv, at least the previews.
Something about this just ain’t right. If the kids don’t know all about this yet, they will after they get their new big screen HD TV.
‘cor, motels with free porn…. wish I lived in America …. 😀
Seriously though, if it was me, I would have sued the motel for traumatizing the kids with the Disney channel….
I would have sue’d over letting my kids watch BARNEY.
The real kicker would if the girls grow up to be lesbians
#12, VT, The TV is the single most destructive invention in the history of mankind.
Perhaps. Or maybe it’s Starbucks / McDonalds. Or the H-bomb.
But I really enjoyed HBO’s “From The Earth To The Moon” produced by Tom Hanks and I still enjoy PBS’ Nova.
The TVs in many hotel rooms make it very easy to accidentally end up with porn on your tv, at least the previews.
Is that how you explain the bills to your wife?
>>Is that how you explain the bills to your wife?
The movie titles don’t show up on the bill. He could say he was watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” or “The Sound of Music”.
Surely if you are watching porn at a hotel its on the company’s bill, not your own …. that is just sick, paying for you own porno….
What the hell is a “family-type” motel? Most hotels have porn available. If a hotel wants to put in a LodgeNet system and not have porn they have to pay extra. Nationwide over 75% of hotel TV revenue comes from porn.
I need to immediately bring my kids to the nearest hotel to be exposed. I can use an extra 85k.
The kids should NOT have been given easy access to hardcore pornography. The hotel was clearly negligent and liable.
Similarly, the hotel should also not have broken glass laying around or exposed electrical wires. The negligence of the mother doesn’t absolve the hotel of their responsibility to keep a reasonable safe environment.
Look, I’d never leave my kids alone at that age — but that’s not the legal issue.
#24 – Almost all hotels now have free HBO. I’ve never stayed anywhere that required any special enabling for it. So anyone staying there might have their brains fried by seeing bare boobies an R movie. Are we supposed to start suing every hotel everywhere? Ridiculous.
This was negligent mom’s fault entirely.
The only real pornography here was performed by the jury.
As the attorney who tried the case, I felt compelled to correct some of the incorrect assumptions on which the comments were based.
First, mom did not leave the children in front of the t.v. alone. She turned on the Disney channel for them and went in the adjacent bathroom to take a short bath. Second, the children did not “figure out” how to access the pornography, they were changing from Disney to Nick because the show was over and the hard core porno is right in between – no warning, no blocks. You just use the remote to change the channels and there it is. Third, this was not broadcast t.v., the pornography was on DVD discs contained in a 400 disc changer. Fourth, there were absolutely no warnings that this was on the t.v., not even a channel guide Fifth, the pornography we were talking about was not HBO bare boob stuff, it was anal and oral homosexual and man-woman shots close up. Sixth, one of the girls had been previously molested and this brought it all back to her. And, lastly, mom did not make any money on this case. With legal, medical, transportation and witness fees, she lost money. Her aim was not to make money, but to make sure that hotels and motels who want to have pornography available insure that it is only shown to adults who want to see it.
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