MySpace faces court showdown over alleged sexual assaults

by Mark Banham, Brand Republic 19-Jan-07, 10:30

LONDON - MySpace is being sued by four US families who claim that the site failed to prevent adult users from contacting their teenage daughters, leading to alleged sexual assaults.

Five girls are involved in the allegations, two of whom were sisters, and the charges claim that all were either plied with alcohol or drugs, or both. The most serious charge relates to a charge of kidnapping of one of the girls.

The lawsuits were filed Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The suits accused myspace.com and its parent company News Corporatio. of "negligence, recklessness, fraud and negligent misrepresentation". It is understood that the plaintiffs are asking for settlements, which could amount to millions of dollars.

One of the lawyers seeking the damages, Adam Loewy, a partner in the law firm Barry & Loewy LLP, Austin, Texas, said: "We'll be seeking damages in the millions, but we won't know the specific amount until we get closer to trial."

The assaults are alleged to have been committed in the later half of 2005 or early 2006 after the men contacted the girls, who were aged between 14 and 15 years old, through the site.

Six men have been arrested in connection with the alleged attacks. The names of the men have not been disclosed.

The families taking legal action are from New York, Texas, Pennsylvania and South Carolina, accuse myspace.com of failing to take steps to protect minors.

The site has recently added extra security measures to protect young teens, including preventing adult strangers from contacting members under the ages of 16 years old. Currently, the minimum age to join the myspace.com community is 14 years old.

Loewy added: "They represented certain things to the public about safety on the site, and our clients relied on those representations and got hurt very badly. That, as a matter of law, is negligent and fraud."

News Corp bought myspace.com for $580m (£333m) in July 2005 as its first major online purchase.

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