LOS ANGELES — Mr. Marcus' attorney says that performer Lylith LaVey's emotional distress suit against the male porn star at center of last year's syphilis-infection outbreak is full of holes because she knew the risks involved in shoots.
LaVey filed suit in September alleging emotional distress stemming from a June 24 Bang Bros shoot involving herself and Mr. Marcus. The suit filed at Van Nuys Superior Court surfaced after MikeSouth.com posted a case summary of it yesterday.
In the Bang Bros video, LaVey could be seen giving fellatio to Mr. Marcus, whose penis clearly showed evidence of a possible STI.
Mr. Marcus, in a previous interview with XBIZ, said the sores at the time looked more like a skin irritation. “It looked like a patch of rough skin, like maybe a reaction to some kind of lube that irritated me," he previously told XBIZ.
While the case is in its early discovery phases, the emotional distress case hinges on LaVey's claim that Mr. Marcus didn't inform the female performer that he had earlier contracted an STI, according to Mr. Marcus attorney Martin Cutler.
"In my 24 years of practicing law, I have never seen a more frivolous case against a defendant than this one," Cutler told XBIZ. "There was an assumption of risk in the case of the shoot. She's a porn actress — she knew what she was getting into."
Los Angeles' adult film industry expressed sharp emotions over the syphilis outbreak last year that put livelihoods on pause during a performance moratorium.
At the epicenter of the outbreak was Mr. Marcus, who on Aug. 21 admitted he had performed in three sex scenes after doctoring his STI test to conceal that he had contracted syphilis. The revelation struck the adult film community as a betrayal and reaction was swift and merciless.
While Marcus drew the brunt of people’s outrage, many also suggested that industry testing lab Talent Testing Services and the Free Speech Coalition’s Adult Production Health & Safety Services mishandled the crisis due to “politics.”
LaVey did not respond to XBIZ calls over the suit. Her attorney, Adam Rose, could not be contacted.
