February 28, 2002

12:42 PM

As a follow-up (of sorts) to questions posed in this thread from last September, a Texas State University student was today awarded $5 million for being shown in a 'Girls Gone Wild'-style video. Though the producers allegedly did more than simply filming the events, this may open a floodgate for similar lawsuits.
posted by Danelope to general weblog-related at 12:42 PM (13 comments total)

(I had originally planned on posting this to the front page, but due to lingering doubts of its worthiness, I figured it'd be safer as a follow-up here.)
posted by Danelope at 12:43 PM on February 28, 2002

She doesn't appear to have won it on any merits; it was simply a default judgement because the defendants didn't even show up. I won't be holding my breath for this to survive an appeal. Certainly not the award amount, at least.

I especially liked the "they CONSPIRED with bartenders to get innocent women to drink and enter wet t-shirt contests!" allegation. Riiiight.
posted by aaron at 12:51 PM on February 28, 2002

Has there been a consensus yet on posting follow-ups to MetaTalk?
posted by cell divide at 1:10 PM on February 28, 2002

Yeah, I'm sure the video guys sat through many clandestine meetings with the bartenders to convince them to stray from the straight-and-narrow. Or maybe there was no conspiracy at all and the bartenders simply wanted to see some college-age boobies. (god, too much Fark.)
posted by tsumo at 1:31 PM on February 28, 2002

Texas State University

Southwest Texas State... or are you subtly supporting their plan for a name change? :)
posted by daveadams at 1:35 PM on February 28, 2002

cell divide: A consensus in what respect?

daveadams: Sorry, I missed the "Southwest" at the beginning of the article when writing up the link. I'm not personally invested in the politics of Texas schools. <grin>
posted by Danelope at 1:57 PM on February 28, 2002

Personally, I think this would have made a fine front page post.
posted by fraying at 2:12 PM on February 28, 2002

From the article: "Sergi said Kulhanek was put in a barbershop type chair where liquor was poured down her throat."

~Perhaps in addition to donating some of her winnings to a women's shelter, she can take a few self-defence and/or self-control classes so this doesn't happen again.~
posted by cyniczny at 3:11 PM on February 28, 2002

Oh, sure, blame the victim! As if it was her fault she went to Spring Break, got drunk, and entered a wet t-shirt contest.
posted by smackfu at 3:42 PM on February 28, 2002

See previous discussion here regarding MetaTalk as an inappropriate place to follow-up on MetaFilter posts.
posted by mcwetboy at 3:44 PM on February 28, 2002

I'm not personally invested in the politics of Texas schools.

I'm not either, but I just happened across something about it this morning and I was surprised at the synchronicity.
posted by daveadams at 5:47 PM on February 28, 2002

Thank you, mcwetboy.

Here's me, apologizing for another post. (I'm trying not to think of this as "damned if you do, damned if you don't". Really.)
posted by Danelope at 7:54 PM on February 28, 2002

I don't think you should have to apologize, and I don't think it should feel like being "called out," as people seem to be putting it these days. It's weblog as conversation--we're all in this together, remember? Everybody's trying to work out how to do this thing, and the conversation goes on the whole time.
posted by rodii at 8:27 PM on February 28, 2002