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A jury awarded a Texas woman $1.2 billion in a revenge porn lawsuit against her ex-boyfriend. The lawsuit said that the woman, who was only identified as D.L., started dating Margues Jamal Jackson in 2016.
During the relationship, D.L. shared intimate images with Jackson. However, when they broke up in 2021, Jackson started posting the photos online.
While posting revenge porn has been a felony in Texas since 2015, no charges were filed against Jackson. The victim tried to go to the police when he first started posting the photos, but they did not help, so she hired a civil attorney to sue Jackson.
The victim said that Jackson posted the photos on social media and in a publically accessible folder on Dropbox. The posts included her real name and address. He also created fake social media accounts, which he used to share the explicit photos with her family, friends, and co-workers.
"This type of experience is devastating," the woman said. "It's extremely painful. It's hurtful. It's embarrassing, and you fear that either something will trigger and it will start again or that the previous effort inspired someone new, and then they might start."
The woman's lawyers do not expect to receive the total amount from Jackson, who was not in court when the jury's decision was read but are hopeful the high sum will send a message.
"While a judgment, in this case, is unlikely to be recovered, the compensatory verdict gives D.L. back her good name," the attorney, Bradford J. Gilde, said. "The punitive verdict also is the jury's plea to raise awareness of this tech-fueled national epidemic."