When a dominatrix instructs her client to defame a psychologist, who really pays the price?
In a recent whopper of a case, Bochetto and Lentz partner, David Heim, won a $5 million lawsuit, representing a local psychologist who was defamed online by the defendants, a dominatrix and her client, who paid her to give him commands as her “slave.” According to court documents, the dominatrix allegedly ordered her client to defame the psychologist, who had dated and then ended a relationship with the dominatrix years before.
The defendants had anonymously posted damaging statements online, calling the psychologist, who is also the CEO of a human resources company, a “rapist,” “alcoholic” and “drug addict.” According to the psychologist, this cost him tens of thousands of dollars in business.
Before the case went to trial, the psychologist settled with the dominatrix’s client. The dominatrix, however, was ordered to pay $5 million in damages, including $3 million to account for the harm done to the psychologist’s reputation.