Post-divorce fallouts and negotiations can get ugly, but they should never get “if you try and depose my new girlfriend, I’ll revenge leak your nudes” ugly. That’s just blackmail. “Negotiation tactics” like that are begging to go in front of a judge under normal circumstances, but nothing expedites the punishment quite like your former spouse being a judge. Yup, you read that right: ABA Journal has coverage.
A Florida judge [Marni Bryson] has settled her lawsuit against a lawyer she sued for allegedly trying to blackmail her with nude photos chronicling her pregnancy.
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According to Bryson, she was told that her nude photos and other damaging information would be released if she insisted on taking a deposition of the then-girlfriend. She sought punitive damages against the defendants.
I do not have the words to express how fundamentally stupid it is to even suggest blackmailing a judge by threatening to leak their nude pregnancy photos. I do, however, have a short video clip:
While the details of the settlement are sparse, the lesson to be learned is clear: If you hire a lawyer who lacks common sense, you will pay for it in dollars.
Judge Settles Suit Accusing Lawyer Of Threatening To Release Her Intimate Photos In Bid To Scuttle Deposition [ABA Journal]
Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s. He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at [email protected] and by tweet at @WritesForRent.