Charlotte Injury Lawyers Blog
Attorney Matthew R. Arnold answering the question: “What can you sue for in a personal injury case?”
A young woman from Pennsylvania has broken ground by filing a class action suit against more than a dozen men who were found to have viewed explicit images of her as a young girl. The victim of child pornography, Masha Allen, is now using a law that carries her name to try and collect at least $150,000 from each of 14 different men so far.
Masha’s story is an especially tragic one and begins when she was a five-year-old Russian orphan. Masha was adopted by a divorced Pittsburgh millionaire named Matthew Mancuso. Mancuso claimed at the time that he was adopting her to try and make up for the distance he felt between himself and his teenage daughter, when he was actually seeking to adopt a young girl for sexual purposes. Police say Mancuso, a successful engineer in his 40s, repeatedly raped and sexually abused Masha on camera, sometimes during trips to Disney World. More than 200 sexually explicit images of her were posted online and the FBI says they have since been viewed millions of times.
Thankfully the FBI located Masha back in 2003, at age 10. She’s now 20 and testified before Congress about how law enforcement failed her by never checking up on her wellbeing. In response, Congress passed a law that allowed for lawsuits against the sometimes-wealthy individuals who view child pornography. The law notes that victims are injured every time their images are illegally accessed, thus allowing even viewers and not just the actual perpetrators to be held liable.
While a handful of people have filed suit against the people who victimized them, Masha is the first to attempt a class-action lawsuit. Her attorneys say the Justice Department has so far indicted more than 2,300 people for viewing Masha’s images alone. Of this group there are many who are doctors, lawyers or other professionals with assets that Masha can seize. The defendants come from across the country, Connecticut, Florida, Washington and many other states.
Though civil lawsuits by victims of child pornography is a novel approach, it might work as another means of punishing those who have engaged in truly reprehensible behavior. In addition to the steep criminal punishments that await these men, having their money taken away provides another serious penalty that will hopefully work to dissuade others. Mancuso is currently serving a 15-year federal sentence for child porn and is now one of the named defendant’s in Masha’s class-action case.
If you, or someone you know, have any questions regarding personal injury claims, please feel free to contact the experienced personal injury attorneys and lawyers in Charlotte, North Carolina at Arnold & Smith, PLLC for a free consultation. Call at 704-370-2828.
About the Author:
Matthew Arnold is a Managing Member with Arnold & Smith, PLLC where he focuses his practice on Personal Injury, Family Law and Business Litigation. Mr. Arnold began his career handling insurance defense litigation for several major insurance companies. He also went on to handle business litigation cases and high value mortgage fraud cases, primarily in Superior Court.
Mr. Arnold grew up in Charlotte, graduating from Providence Senior High School and continued his education at Belmont Abbey College on a basketball scholarship. After graduating cum laude he attended law school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on a full academic scholarship. In his spare time, Mr. Arnold enjoys golfing and spending time on the North Carolina Coast with his wife and three young children: two daughters and one son.
Source:
“Masha Allen Lawsuit: Child Porn Victim Sues Viewers For $150K Apiece,” published at HuffingtonPost.com.
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