Radio station owes student misidentified as porn star

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A pair of Kansas City morning show hosts’ attempt at ribald humor cost their radio station’s parent company $1 million after a federal jury in Kansas City, Kansas, found that they libeled a University of Kansas law student whom they misidentified as a pornographic actress.

Ashley Patton of Olathe, Kansas, sued Entercom Kansas City LLC, a subsidiary of Pennsylvania-based Entercom Communications, in U.S. District Court in April 2013. The company owns more than 100 stations nationwide in two dozen markets, including KRBZ-FM, also known as 96.5 FM, The Buzz.

The lawsuit was filed one year after disc jockeys Afentra Bandokoudis and Daniel “Danny Boi” Terreros, hosts of the show “Afentra’s Big Fat Morning Buzz,” invited listeners to send in the names of Kansas City-based porn actresses via the station’s text message line.

A high school classmate of Patton’s submitted her name “while sitting in his truck scrolling through Facebook status updates” and coming across the law student’s name, said plaintiff’s attorney Arthur A. Benson.

While on air, the radio hosts located online pornographic images of a woman named Ashley Payton, including images that showed her being choked by a man while having sex. The segment continued for 20 minutes, Benson said, with the station posting the name of his client and others on its website as well as a podcast. The station removed the content several hours later after Patton and her father complained. The station also offered to broadcast an on-air apology, which Patton refused, and suspended the two employees for two days without pay.

At trial and in its briefs, Entercom argued that while the material was both false and highly offensive, Patton failed to meet the third prong of the actual malice standard — acting in reckless disregard of the truth, according to Benson. Attorneys for the broadcast conglomerate did not respond to multiple interview requests.
Benson said that both sides chose not to play the offensive recording during the trial after jurors listened to it during voi dire. Still, he suggested that their lingering impressions remained when they decided to award Patton $250,000 in actual damages and then $750,000 in punitive damages.

“I think the jury was just highly disgusted,” he said.

Further, station officials acknowledged that “their business plan was to be highly offensive to attract 18- to 34-year-olds,” Benson said.

Once the jury determined that Patton was entitled to actual damages, the two sides entered a high-low agreement in the punitive damages phase, with a $750,000 minimum and a $1.5 million maximum, according to Benson

The plaintiff sought damages for mental anguish, shame and humiliation, but didn’t pursue economic damages given Patton’s student status, her attorney said. After the station’s prank, Patton required prescription drugs for sleeplessness, agitation and anxiety, he said.

The trial lasted five days before the jury returned its verdict on Sept. 26.  For that week, at least, The Buzz was talk-free, Benson said, opting instead to broadcast music before returning to its “morning zoo” format.

The station further sought to make amends by encouraging listeners to donate to a women’s shelter for domestic violence victims.

$1 million verdict (Out-of-state)

Invasion of privacy

Breakdown: $250,000 in actual damages, $750,000 in punitive damages

Venue: U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas

Case number/date: 2:13-cv-02186/Sept. 26, 2014

Caption: Ashley Patton v. Entercom Kansas City LLC

Judge: Daniel Crabtree

Plaintiff’s expert: Marc Vianello, Overland Park, Kansas (economic damages)

First pretrial offer: $28,000

Plaintiff’s attorneys: Arthur A. Benson II and Jamie Kathryn Lansford, Arthur Benson & Associates, Kansas City

Defendant’s attorneys: Frederick “Fritz” H. Riesmeyer II, Shannon Cohorst Johnson and Andrew Goodwin, Seigfreid Bingham, Kansas City