Recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has ruled that plaintiffs suing the producers of the “Girls Gone Wild” videos for filming them engaging in sexually explicit acts while minors may proceed anonymously in court (Plaintiff B v. Francis, 11th Cir., No. 10-10664, 2/1/11). The District Court for the Northern District of Florida had previously held that the plaintiffs would not be able to proceed anonymously because their conduct was “casual and voluntary.” The Court of Appeals held that the district court abused its discretion in determining that the sexual acts depicted in the videos were “casual and voluntary” and in failing to properly consider the potential harms to the plaintiffs if they were not allowed to proceed anonymously.
The decision shows a willingness to deem most sexual conduct as not “casual” and thus a matter of “utmost intimacy” which can defeat a presumption of openness in the courts. The Court also recognized that modern technology could very well lead to a life-long branding of the plaintiffs as “sluts” and “stars” of the videos, given the ease of information flow over the internet. That ease of information flow seems to have pushed the Court to protect the alleged victims of reputational damage from the release of depictions of sexual conduct, even as slight as one minute of “flashing.”
The case is currently on remand to the district court to determine if allowing the plaintiffs to proceed anonymously comprises an unconstitutional prior restraint on speech.
79 U.S.L.W. 2012
Full Court text at http://pub.bna.com/lw/10664.pdf
Additional links:
http://www.firstamendmentcoalition.org/2011/02/girls-gone-wild-suit-allowed-to-proceed-anonymously/
http://www.waltonsun.com/news/girls-90554-newsherald-gone-panel.html