Personal Injury Law

Wal-Mart Sued By Couple Accused Of Child Exploitation Over Bath Photos

By Jane Akre

Bath Time Photos- Obscene?

A couple is suing Wal-Mart after an employee there turned in bath time photos at the photo lab, calling them obscene.

In August of 2008, Anthony and Lisa Demaree, of Peoria, Arizona, brought more than 140 photos to be developed at Wal-Mart. They showed a vacation in San Diego and some of bath time with their three little girls, ages 18-months, 4 and 5. But an employee at Wal-Mart thought the photos could be child pornography and called police.

According to the police report, photos were of the children in provocative positions, with their genitals exposed.

"Some of the photos are bath time photos," Lisa said, "but there are a few after the bath. Three of the girls are naked, laying on a towel with their arms around each other, and we thought it was so cute" reports Current.

What followed was a nightmare for the couple. Police searched the home and home computers. There they found more pictures of the children in the home without clothes.

"We have told our girls that they have freedom to be in their home and feel OK about their bodies and their nudity, but that there is a time and a place for it," Lisa said.

Child Protective Services removed their three children and put them in foster homes. A medical examiner found no sign abuse and a judge ruled the photos were harmless, and after one month the girls were returned home.

But in the meantime, Lisa was suspended from her job at a school for a year and the couple was put on a list of sex offenders.

Robin Roberts of  ABC News, "Good Morning America" (GMA )asked Lisa on Monday of this week, about how the girls are today?

"The oldest girl has a lot of anxiety about going into other homes," she said. "She calls them 'the strangers' house, even if she knows the home."

Demaree attorney, Richard Treon, appearing on GMA, said because the photos are called sexual in nature, he can't show them so the public can see how innocent they are because he could be charged with distributing pornography.

ABC's legal expert, Dana Cole, says that in cases of child pornography authorities need to prove sexual intent on the part of the parents, and that after the judge reviewed the case and the Demarees underwent psychological evaluation, it was determined that there was no such intent.

Treon blames the detective who made the judgment with his own subjective impression and, "with no training and experience or background to make this judgment," and the 60-page report from the city of Peoria that describes the bath scene poses as children in a "provocative manner."

Lisa is now back at work. Her message for families is watch out.

"In today's society it seems like with the technology we have to disperse photos easily we have to have an awareness how innocent photos can be misperceived and that you need to have an awareness before you get anything printed or developed of what the policies are. In our case there was nothing displayed for us that somebody would be censoring our photographs at Wal-Mart."

Wal-Mart had issued a statement: "Wal-Mart we are committed to providing quality service and convenience to our photo customers. These are sensitive allegations and we're taking them very seriously."

In two separate lawsuits, the Demarees say the "slanderous claims" state officials made during the investigation caused them serious economic losses. They also claim to have since suffered "emotional stress, headaches, nightmares, a general feeling of malaise, shock to their nervous system, grief and depression."

One lawsuit names the state of Arizona, Peoria and the state Attorney General's Office as defendants, claiming that employees from each party defamed them by telling friends, family members and coworkers that they had "sexually abused" their children by taking pornographic pictures of them.

Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Hunter is specifically accused, reports the Arizona Republic.

The suit names Wal-Mart and its failure to disclose its "unsuitable print policy" which allows the retail giant to turn over photos to law enforcement. They are seeking an undetermined amount of monetary damages in a jury trial.

In 11 states, professionals, including photographers and counselors, are required to report suspected child abuse. According to Child Welfare Information Gateway, Arizona is not one of them.

Respondents to Blogher.com say an $8 an hour Wal-Mart employee is not qualified to determine or trained to determine child pornography.

The site points to the Wal-Mart "unsuitable print" policy which is nowhere on the company Web site, however it appears in the conditions of Use in Terms of Use. #

Full post as published by InjuryBoard on September 23, 2009 (boomark / email).