A woman who rented her Aquinnah house off-season is suing her former tenant and the company he worked for alleging property damage and emotional distress caused by commercial adult films shot at her residence. Leah Bassett filed a lawsuit on Monday in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts regarding activities that took place over a period of months in 2014 and 2015.
The suit states that Ms. Bassett rented her personal residence to Joshua Spafford, a photographer and personal videographer of adult films, for the winter. Mr. Spafford did not disclose that the intended use of the rental was for shooting pornographic films, the lawsuit claims.
Mr. Spafford was employed by Monica Jensen (also known as Nica Noelle) an adult film writer and director working for Mile High Media, an adult film production company.
In March of 2015, Mr. Spafford informed Ms. Bassett that he had been fired by Ms. Jensen and had vacated the home. In response Ms. Bassett asked her parents, Tod Bassett and Barbara Bassett, who live on the same street as the residence to check on the home.
The suit states that the two were “shocked by the deplorable state of condition” they found and called the Aquinnah police to inspect the home. A few days later, they found two strangers unpacking groceries in the kitchen.
When Ms. Bassett returned to the Vineyard in May, the suit states, she discovered the physical damages were more extensive than her parents reported, and that she “independently made the highly disturbing discovery that her personal residence had been used during the leasehold for the commercial production of graphic pornography.”
The suit also states Ms. Bassett noticed that the defendants had used nearly every room of her house for their production, moving pieces of art to “aesthetically enhance scenes” and deliberately using decorative hand-sewn bedroom pillows designed by Ms. Bassett.
The suit claims that Ms. Bassett was left emotionally distressed by the incident and is now seeing a mental health therapist. She has left the home vacant ever since and says she is reluctant to rent out the residence long-term and to strangers again.
Federal court has jurisdiction over the case due to the asserted violation of the U.S. Copyright Act. Ms. Bassett, a professional artist, claims in the suit that artwork that was shown in the adult films were her personally-created artistic works. She requests statutory damages for their continued display in the for-profit films.
In letters from their lawyers filed in court, co-defendants Ms. Jensen and Mile High denied they were engaged in unfair or deceptive practices and declined to accede to any of Ms. Bassett’s monetary demands for relief.
In addition to damages, Ms. Bassett requests that TLA Entertainment Group, the company selling the adult films featuring Ms. Bassett’s residence, cease marketing and distributing the videos unless they secure proof of a rental agreement allowing for them to use the residence for commercial purposes.
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