Legal News

The Manhattan Madam from Queens? Did NYDN Get It Wrong?

By Dionne Searcey

Attorneys for Bojana Vuleta have filed a multi-million-dollar suit against the New York Daily News for publishing her photo Feb. 1 under the headline “Madam’s Slippery Story of Sex Attack.” The story is about the alleged “Manhattan Madam,” who has been associated with overseeing a high-priced prostitution ring that former Gov. Eliot Spitzer allegedly patronized. (Apologies but it appears the Daily News has taken down the links to the story.) Here’s the complaint.

The Manhattan Madam is allegedly a woman named Kristin Davis. However, according to the lawsuit, the photo shows Vuleta, a stylist from Queens, outside her home, instead of Davis. Under the photo was the tag: “Manhattan Madam.”

Vuleta’s lawyers say Davis happened to be visiting Vuleta’s Queens apartment building and when Vuleta walked outside and photographers mistakenly thought she was Davis - both women have blond hair. According to a news release from her attorneys at Weiss & Hiller: “Ms. Vuleta, who…does not even know the ‘Manhattan Madam,’ has been harassed at her job and in her neighborhood by people who now claim to believe that she is living a double life.”

Things took a turn this week. On Thursday, attorneys for Vuleta say they sent a fax to the Daily News’s general newsroom fax machine about 6 p.m. informing executives of the error. The attorneys said they opened up Friday’s newspaper, expecting a correction, only to find another photo of Vuleta with a story about the Manhattan Madam. The Daily News apparently didn’t see the fax until today.

The Daily News declined comment on the matter. The complaint, filed in New York Supreme Court, seeks $80 million in damages. “This is simply a disgusting and dangerous act of yellow journalism,” said Craig Delsack, one of Vuleta’s attorneys.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on February 06, 2009 (boomark / email).