A Michigan man who sued his parents for disposing of his pornography collection has won, and the judge ordered his parents to pay for what they destroyed.
MLive.com reports that U.S. District Judge Paul Maloney ruled in favor of David Werking, who took his parents, Beth and Paul Werking, to court after they threw out his collection. He lived at their home for 10 months after a divorce, before relocating to Indiana. The 42-year-old estimated the porn collection—which consisted of multiple boxes of films and magazines and what the judge called “a trove of pornography and an array of sex toys”—was worth $25,000 to $29,000.
“There is no question that the destroyed property was David’s property,” Maloney said on Monday. “Defendants repeatedly admitted that they destroyed the property."
Werking’s parents contended that it was their right to dispose of the property as his landlords. “Defendants do not cite to any statute or caselaw to support their assertion that landlords can destroy property that they dislike,” the judge said. Maloney told both sides that they have until February to file written submissions on the monetary value of the collection.
When he left for Indiana, he thought they would send his belongings. He then discovered that a dozen boxes of pornographic films and magazines weren’t there. His father later wrote to him in an email, saying “Frankly, David, I did you a big favor getting rid of all this stuff.”
