"Girls Gone Wild" Creator Escapes Lawsuit

Defending himself, he makes spring-breakers cry on the witness stand.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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It's no big news that Girls Gone Wildcreator Joe Francis is kind of a creep, and definitely a jerk, but did you know he's also something of a legal savant? Yesterday, an all-female jury in Panama City, Fla. decided not to award any damages to four women who sued him. Francis acted as his own lawyer for most of the trial.

According to the News Herald of Panama City, Francis was hard on the plaintiffs during cross examination, sending two away in tears. Judge Richard Smoak fined him $2,500 and made him get a lawyer after he asked one of the plaintiffs if she was a prostitute. Does he think he crossed a line? Not a bit. He told the newspaper: “I think it helped.... I shook them like a tree until all the fruit fell out, and I shook them violently.”

Gross. But it worked on the jury. The women were younger than 18 when Francis's cameraman persuaded them to flash their breasts, but in the end, they didn't make their case. "The jury found the evidence supported the statement that Francis’ behavior was 'beyond all possible bounds of decency and is regarded as shocking, atrocious, and utterly intolerable in a civilized community,' but not with intent to cause emotional distress to the plaintiffs."

Girls Gone Wild: Defending the First Ammendment at spring break.

[via News Herald]

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