SAN FRANCISCO—The lawsuits filed more than two years ago by adult performers Cameron Adams, Joshua Rodgers and "John Doe" against Kink owner Cybernet Entertainment may finally be coming to an end, with a federal judge ruling yesterday that the State Insurance Compensation Fund has no obligation to defend Cybernet against the lawsuits—and also that the performers should be seeking recovery for their alleged injuries through the Workers Compensation Fund.
All three have claimed that they contracted HIV on Kink sets in 2013, but to date, none have been able to provide any evidence that they did, and HIV tests administered to everyone with whom the three had sexual contact at Kink during the scenes in question have come back negative. In absence of a source, no expert could be produced to identify a medically recognized route of transmission.
The ruling, by U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers (no relation to Joshua) of the Northern District of California, asserts that the trio's lawsuits should never have been filed in civil court in the first place, since they all relate to alleged injuries suffered in the workplace, and that if the injuries could be proved to have happened in the workplace, the proper place to seek repayment of expenses and other damages would be the Workers Compensation Fund, thanks to the so-called "exclusive remedy" provision of that law. And since it is abundantly clear that even if it could be proved that the trio were infected on Kink sets, such infection would have been unintentional; the alleged injuries would fall within that exception because they would be considered risks "reasonably encompassed within" the actors' "compensation bargain" with the studios—or so the judge ruled.
Moreover, the State Insurance Compensation Fund would also not be liable even if the plaintiffs could prove that the studio acted, as they allege, with a "conscious disregard" for their safety, since the State Fund policy excludes "intentional conduct" by the studio. Only intentional acts done on behalf of Cybernet would conceivably be appropriate for a lawsuit in civil court.
"The ruling confirmed what we have long argued,” said Cybernet attorney Karen Tynan in a statement today. "These cases should never have been filed in civil court. The Plaintiff’s claims were baseless to begin with, and not supported by existing medical science. Their claims to intentionality were even weaker. Judge Rodgers ruled that Plaintiffs are limited to recovery within the workers comp system. This is a good day for Cybernet, and we thank our coverage counsel for their excellent work."
As the ruling notes, the three plaintiffs had originally filed workers compensation claims but later also filed civil claims against Cybernet, which the company has always regarded as nuisance claims. The ruling completely absolves the State Fund, which provided the workers compensation insurance to Cybernet, from any costs related to the civil litigation, and affirms that these cases should not be tried in civil court. While the court record appears to show that Cybernet has already resolved the Cameron Adams case, the civil suits by Rodgers and Doe have been scheduled for trial sometime next Spring, but the current ruling by Judge Rogers may short-circuit those proceedings.
"We are taking a look at filing a Motion for Reconsideration to get some clarity around the many footnotes and some of the analysis,” Tynan said, referring to Judge Rogers' ruling. "However, we just got the ruling today, and we’re digesting it. Overall, this is a good day for us in the overall scope of complex litigation."
