Woman Sues TopBucks Over Party Photos

[gonzo]

--palbeachpost.com

BOCA RATON — Heather Kertesz wanted her 21st birthday to be memorable. Instead, it was memorialized on an XXX-rated Web site.

Weeks after the former Lynn University student briefly attended a house party in Boca Raton, she discovered her photo was splashed all over collegewildparties.com.

"This is sort of like every young woman's worst nightmare," said Bill Matthewman, one of her attorneys. "You go to a party and the next thing you know, someone's Photoshopping you into a pornographic Web site."

Although his now-22-year-old client was fully clothed at the party and in the Web site photos, she doesn't know what other pictures or video were taken before she left the party.

She wants to see all the photos and video that were shot at the March 2007 party on Northeast Fifth Street to make sure her reputation isn't sullied further on the Web site, which boasts "real college kids who get wild, sexy and out of control."

In a lawsuit recently filed in U.S. District Court in West Palm Beach, she also is seeking monetary damages from the Arizona-based companies that operate the site and unknown Florida companies that in all likelihood arranged the party, shot the pictures and produced the video.

Boca Raton attorney Wayne Schwartz, who is representing Arizona-based Cyberheat Inc., Topbucks Inc. and Pink Visuals Inc., declined comment on the suit.

Attorney Joel Rothman, who also is representing Kertesz, said company officials have tried to undermine her claims. First, they said, she agreed to appear in the photos. Later, they maintained, she was trespassing at the party.

Kertesz, who graduated in the spring with a degree in psychology, was celebrating her 21st birthday with friends when someone suggested they go to a party at a nearby house.

Shortly after arriving, Kertesz suspected something was amiss, Rothman said.

"There were several places throughout the house with women and men in various stages of undress, engaging in a variety of sexual acts," he said.

Approached to sign a photo release and allow her driver license to be copied, she refused. She was quickly shown the door.

Matthewman said he suspects the partygoers included professional models and that college students were invited to add some unscripted spice.

Similar to the Girls Gone Wild series, there is a key difference, he said. Kertesz didn't agree to be photographed.

"If anybody thought about this happening to their daughter or their sister, they would be outraged," he said. "With Photoshop and morphing, it's incredible what can be done on a Web site."