SAN DIEGO (CN) — Attorneys who represented a “mom” porn affiliate website during the civil contract fraud trial against GirlsDoPorn declined to settle with the 22 Jane Does who sued the porn empire and now the empire is on the hook for a $21 million judgment, a bankruptcy trustee claims in a legal malpractice suit filed this week.
Lenard Schwartzer, Chapter 7 trustee for Domi Publications, sued attorneys George Rikos and Clyde DeWitt in San Diego Superior Court on legal malpractice and breach of fiduciary duty claims related to their representation of MomPOV.com production company Domi Publications. The court made the lawsuit public Wednesday.
The company — originally a joint venture between GirlsDoPorn owner and founder Michael Pratt and porn actor Doug Wiederhold — got ensnared in the 2019 fraud trial brought by nearly two dozen college-age women who filmed with GirlsDoPorn based on false representations the videos would be sold on DVDs overseas or to private collectors and never published online.
The flicks ended up on GirlsDoPorn’s subscription-based website, with clips and some full-length videos posted on “tube” sites such as PornHub — one of the most trafficked websites in the world.
The Jane Does claimed the online videos upended their lives. They sued GirlsDoPorn and its entities for contract fraud based on claims the various companies affiliated with GirlsDoPorn were “alter egos” and therefore just as responsible for damages.
San Diego Superior Court Judge Kevin Enright agreed, awarding the women $13 million in damages and the rights to their videos following a 99-day trial. They women later won nearly $8 million in attorney’s fees and $781,000 in costs for a total judgment of $21 million.
But they’ve yet to recover any of the damages.
The individual Jane Does are now named as creditors in Domi's Chapter 7 bankruptcy, filed in Nevada following Enright’s judgment.
In their 15-page legal malpractice, the bankruptcy trustee claims Rikos and DeWitt could have saved Domi from the $21 million bill had they settled with the women when given multiple opportunities to do so before and during the trial in fall 2019.
“Rikos and DeWitt’s utter failure to fulfill their duties of care and act in Domi’s best interest resulted in a judgment against Domi for $21,396,478.16. In turn, Rikos and DeWitt’s failure to fulfill their duties caused Domi to lose its entire business, which had generated millions in profits since its inception,” Schwartzer claims, noting bankruptcy filings showed the Domi Publications earned more than $2 million in annual gross revenue in 2018 and 2019.
But Rikos and DeWitt opted not to accept multiple settlement offers, Schwartzer claims, including an offer by the Does to dismiss Domi from their case against GirlsDoPorn and waive costs and fees.
The women also moved to sever their claims against Domi from the GirlsDoPorn case, which would have saved Domi immense legal fees and costs. But Rikos declined the offer and opted to go to trial, according to the lawsuit.
A few weeks before trial, the Does served Domi with offers of compromise to settle each individual Doe’s claim for $749 — one dollar less than the statutory minimum penalty automatically granted to a plaintiff who prevails on a misappropriation of likeness claim in California.
The total to settle all the Jane Does’ claims would have been $16,478, according to Schwartzer.
But the issue of whether to accept a settlement offer came down to a dispute between Wiederhold — GirlsDoPorn’s original “male talent” who managed the day-to-day operations of MomPOV.com — and Pratt, who had a 50% ownership stake in Domi Publications.
Wiederhold reportedly wanted to settle. Pratt did not, Schwartzer claims in the lawsuit.
“Upon information and belief, Rikos and DeWitt took no action to attempt to resolve the deadlock between Mr. Wiederhold and Mr. Pratt that was forcing Domi to remain in very costly and risky litigation,” Schwartzer claims.
A day before trial, Wiederhold and Pratt entered into a buyout agreement where Wiederhold bought Pratt’s 50% interest in Domi Publications for $96,000. As part of the contract, Pratt advised it was his “desire” for Wiederhold to reject the compromise offer by the Does and instead negotiate a “walk away” in the first month of the trial.
The “walk away” agreement would have been filed under seal as opposed to the compromise offer by the Does.
Neither Rikos nor DeWitt took any action to negotiate a walk away agreement with the Jane Does once trial commenced, despite being expressly called for in the buyout agreement between Pratt and Wiederhold, Schwartzer claims.
Rikos later served an offer to settle if the Jane Does paid Domi and offered to have judgment issued in Domi’s favor. They declined.
Schwartzer is represented by John O’ Brien with Thorsnes Bartolotta McGuire and Ed Chapin and Cara Van Dorn with Sanford Heisler Sharp. O'Brien declined to comment on the case.
Las Vegas-based DeWitt has represented other clients in the porn industry and said in a statement "I do not comment on pending litigation in which I am involved, whether as counsel or as a party."
Rikos did not return an email request for comment by press time.
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