"only in America"

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Lawsuit Over Janet Jackson's Super Bowl Incident Seeks Billions In Damages
By Jimmy Moore
Talon News
February 6, 2004

In response to last Sunday's debacle over Janet Jackson exposing herself during the half-time show of the Super Bowl, a woman has filed a class action lawsuit against Viacom, CBS, MTV, Jackson and Justin Timberlake to recoup damages for her "outrage, anger, embarrassment and serious injury."

Terri Carlin, a 47-year-old bank employee from Knoxville, TN, asked her attorney Wayne A. Ritchie II to draft the lawsuit and file it in U.S. District Court on Wednesday.

As reported by Talon News on Monday, pop singer Justin Timberlake removed the part of Jackson's costume that covered her right breast during the finale of the Super Bowl half-time show.

Viacom International, Inc., which owns both CBS and MTV, was named in the lawsuit despite denying responsibility for what was shown to hundreds of millions of viewers around the world.

As for the lawsuit by Carlin, it notes that the damages she suffered are valued "in excess of $75,000.00."

She asked "all American citizens who watched the outrageous conduct" of Jackson and Timberlake to join her in the class action suit.

Carlin charges that Viacom, CBS and MTV "knew or should have known" about the breast incident in the half-time show performance.

Although they were not named in the lawsuit, Carlin lamented "other lewd and sexually explicit conduct" by the other performers in the half-time show, including Kid Rock, P. Diddy, and Nelly.

The lawsuit goes on to accuse each of the companies and individuals with trying to "garner publicity and, ultimately, to increase profits for themselves."

"The defendants consciously or recklessly and without warning permitted these acts to be aired," Carlin continues in the lawsuit.

In terms of the damages suffered by those who join this class action lawsuit, Carlin says that families, especially ones with children, who were watching "were caused to suffer outrage, anger, embarrassment, and serious injury" as a result of this broadcast.

The lawsuit explains that the defendants violated an "implied" contract with those watching to abstain from sexually explicit performances.

"Families have an expectation that they can trust companies and individuals such as the defendants not to expose families to sexually explicit conduct during broadcasts of prime time events such as the Super Bowl," Carlin explains the lawsuit.

Interestingly, one of the arguments promoted in the lawsuit for damages is defamation of "the standards and the reputation of Americans."

"Defendants knew or should have known that the standing and credibility of Americans in the world would be harmed as a result of the defendants' self-indulgent and self-serving acts," the lawsuit claims.

As for other actual damages being asked for in the lawsuit, Carlin is requesting to have "a refund of a pro-rata share of the cable or satellite bill for the month or pay period in which the Super Bowl was broadcast."

The lawsuit also notes the obvious FCC violations in the half-time show and asks for damages as a result.

Finally, as part of the damages, Carlin states in the lawsuit that future half-time show performers should be monitored using "appropriate internal broadcast delays" like the ones that will be used in this weekend's Grammy Awards.

Concluding the lawsuit, Carlin says she expects "over eighty million" people to join her in her fight against the defendants.

"The class would otherwise include all American citizens who watched the subject Super Bowl half-time show on February 1, 2004," the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit requests a jury trial for this case, although it will likely be difficult to find anyone who is not aware of this incident.

In fact, the Internet search engine Google announced earlier this week that this subject has become the most searched one in Internet history, surpassing the previous leader, September 11.

Total damages requested by Carlin could run in the billions of dollars since she states that punitive damages should not exceed the gross revenue of all defendants in the past three years.

As for Jackson, she has publicly apologized for the incident and said a red lace undergarment was what should have been revealed. She maintains that the NFL, CBS, MTV and Viacom should not be held liable for her controversial performance.

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Op maandag 9 februari 2004 13:17 schreef Isabeau het volgende:
Staat al lang in het topic over het "incident", kon je het niet beter daarbij plaatsen?

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Op maandag 9 februari 2004 13:20 schreef Lord_Vetinari het volgende:

[..]

75 duizend. Er staan maar 3 nullen

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Total damages requested by Carlin could run in the billions of dollars

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