Miss West Virginia 2003, Allison Williams, has filed suit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia, Clarkburg against 59 defendants seeking damages and injunctive relief against those she alleges are responsible for selling a video on the Internet, which they falsely sold as depicting a former "Miss West Virginia."
The defendants are located in the United States, Australia, The Netherlands, Belgium, Cayman Islands, Canada, and South Africa.
According to a press release, Williams discovered the defamatory videos during her first weeks of law school at the West Virginia University College of Law as she was searching the Internet for a favorable newspaper article to give her mother. Williams retained the law firm of Jackson Kelly PLLC in October 2004 to assist her in getting the offending materials removed from the adult Websites.
Her legal team at Jackson Kelly, led by Stephen LaCagnin, Andrew Wright and Woodrow Turner, has been investigating the offenders and filed this lawsuit last week. Wright said, "We hope that this lawsuit will assist Ms. Williams in her efforts to vindicate herself. Aside from that, we will let the court proceedings speak for themselves."
In 2003, Williams was crowned Miss West Virginia and competed in the Miss America pageant – distinctions she earned through years of hard work in academic and charitable settings. Many West Virginians, including school children, have had the good fortune to meet Williams as she toured the state to promote her inspirational program, Start To Accept Responsibility ("STAR").
Now, the former Miss West Virginia has been falsely accused on Internet Websites of filming herself engaged in sexual conduct. Included in some of these sites are photographs of Williams wearing her pageant crown juxtaposed with a video of an unidentified woman, purportedly Williams, engaged in sexual acts. Some of the photographs were doctored to make Williams' eye color match the unidentified woman in the video.
"This has been a nightmare," Williams explained. "The woman in the video is not me. She doesn't even look like me. I have never participated in any pornographic video."
Williams is appreciative of the support she has received from those who learned about this personal violation: "The support I have received from friends, family, and others as I have been battling these lies has been tremendous. I hope that the people of West Virginia will stand by me as I clear my name."
Upon discovering these websites, Williams immediately disclosed their existence to the Miss West Virginia and Miss America Organizations in an effort to avoid any character investigations that could jeopardize her scholarships. Leah Summers, the Executive Director of the Miss West Virginia Organization, together with the rest of the Organization, are supporting her.
Summers said, "It is absolutely ludicrous to think that these videos are Allison. She was a wonderful Miss West Virginia. In fact, she spent much of her year traveling around the state working with children who are striving to overcome adversity in their lives."
