Pornography

Woman Says She Unwittingly Rented Home To A Porn Company And You'll Completely Believe What Happened Next

Just a delightful evening on Martha's Vineyard.

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In what one hopes is a case of first impression in Martha’s Vineyard, a woman is suing after discovering that a seasonal rental she owns was used in a “multitude” of porn scenes. The woman, Leah Bassett, claims that she leased the home to a man named Joshua Spafford, who worked for porn star Monica Jensen (aka Nica Noelle) and Mile High Distribution Inc. One assumes that when Bassett leased the home, she wasn’t aware of (a) Jensen’s role in the rental or (b) Jensen’s impressive oeuvre or (c) both. Presumably, there’s a robust body of law about this sort of thing in the Valley.[1]

What would a porn set on Martha’s Vineyard even look like?

Man: I’m here to deliver this locally owned artisanal farm-to-table pizza.

Woman: Thank Gawd you’re heeya. I’m trying to find the Sawwwx game and I think the cable’s out.

Man: I know how to lay some cable… I used to work on the Big Dig. [Cue Dropkick Murphy’s and awkward, pasty sex]

Though, given Jensen’s IMDB profile, some of those roles might be different.

According to the report in the Boston Globe, Bassett’s first hint of trouble came when Spafford informed her that he’d been fired by Jensen and that she’d taken over the lease. At this point, the details get confusing, with Bassett alleging that her mother inspected the house and found it in disrepair and took the key away from Jensen, and yet, a couple of months later the house was allegedly in even worse repair. Even if Jensen had another copy of the key, it’s a bold move to keep going into a house after the owner’s representative takes your key away.

For the defendants’ side of things:

Stephen A. Roach, an attorney who represents three of the defendants — Jensen, Mile High, and another individual he declined to name — said the suit “arose out of a basic landlord-tenant dispute.”

He said Bassett became upset because someone he does not represent failed to pay rent.

“The allegations are unfounded,” he said during a brief phone interview Wednesday evening.

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But we’re drifting away from the central point here. How did Bassett allegedly discover her home’s star turn?

As “circumstances evolved,” Bassett independently discovered that her home had been used for “the production of graphic pornography” credited to Mile High Distribution, Jensen, and those listed in the lawsuit.

That sounds a bit vague. Perhaps there’s some more detail we can glean from the filing…

“Arising from her profound anger, embarrassment, and general sense of personal violation in response to the discovery of her home’s use for commercial porn production, Ms. Bassett proceeded over the ensuing weeks/months to engage in periodic — and admittedly somewhat obsessive — review of Internet sites”

So that’s what we’re calling it these days. Teen boys across America are apparently also suffering from profound anger, embarrassment, and [a] general sense of personal violation.

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Which is actually probably true now that I think of it.

What if your house was used in a porn shoot? This homeowner says hers was, and she’s suing [Boston Globe]

[1] It turns out, I’m very wrong about assuming that the Valley has this worked out. Mark Kernes of AVN reached out to me to point out that the porn industry has dealt with these sorts of complaints before — such as this case regarding Acacia Mansion (follow-up here) — but these incidents are relatively rare and the law surrounding how to deal with them is far from robust.

HeadshotJoe Patrice is an editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.

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