A Michigan couple has been ordered to pay more than $45,000 after destroying their son’s extensive porn collection.
According to MLlive.com, 43-year-old David Werking sued his parents—Beth and Paul Werking—in 2019 after they admitted to throwing out his “trove of pornography and an array of sex toys.” The plaintiff reportedly moved in with his parents following his divorce in 2016, and moved out about 10 months later.
Shortly after leaving his parents’ home, David sent for his belongings; however, when the delivery arrived, he noticed that some of his items were missing—specifically two boxes of sex toys and a dozen boxes of pornographic material. The lawsuit states David reached out to his dad about the missing property, and was told that the items were long gone.
“I do not possess your pornography. It is gone,” Paul reportedly wrote in an email to his son. “It has either been destroyed or disposed of. I may well have missed a few items that are now in your possession but, at this point, if you don’t have it, it is gone. Ditto for your sex toys and smutty magazines … Frankly, David, I did you a big favor getting rid of all this stuff.”
David’s legal team hired Dr. Victoria Hartmann—a sexuality scholar who specializes in pornography and paraphilias—to place a value on the destroyed items. Hartmann determined the collection had been worth $30,441.54, which is what the judge awarded to David.
“There is no question that the destroyed property was David’s property,” said U.S. District Judge Paul Maloney. “Defendants repeatedly admitted that they destroyed the property.”
The judge also ordered Beth and Paul to pay $14,519.82 to their son’s attorney.
