Fine. I agree w/ you that it is likely the scummy parents are at least somewhat more scummy than their scummy son.
Is there really much of a demand for legal “collectible” old porn DVDs, tapes, and used sex toys? Who would buy that? One suspects that its claimed value is more of a fantasy than the plot lines of the movies. 1,600 old DVDs and tapes? My WAG is that the reality is that you’d have to pay for a junk pick up. Extra for infectious disease precautions.
(Agreed porn strikes the prurient Springeresque interest but the principles here would be the same as a Bible thumper who brought their religious items collection into their atheist parents’ home against their wishes, destroyed it, and whose family dysfunctionality was such that the recourse was to sue.)
I imagine the claimed value was based on either original cost or cost of replacement, not present market value. How do you calculate depreciation on a used sex toy?
Good on ya for the fast response, but some of us latecomers REALLY want to know what the original title was.
…
Would it have been newsworthy if he’d sued them for throwing out his Honus Wagner trading card?
Well, I guess that a Honus Wagner card being involved would make it newsworthy, but the “son suing parents” aspect wouldn’t really be the newsworthy aspect, would it?
(Really, though, there are just SO many things that I would have thought he’d be too embarrassed to have the public know about. STARTING with the implication that he pays for porn.)
Back in the day when VHS tapes and magazines were a thing, everybody who had that stuff paid for it. I could easily imagine a connoisseur addict having paid $29K for tapes and mags spread over a decade.
It’s only now in the Glorious 21st Century that there’s an unlimited free porn-fountain in everyone’s pocket or purse.
Either straight line balance or one of the log curves like double declining balance. Depending on the shape of course. Over a 7, 8, or even 12 inch span. [rimshot].
I note that the articles I’ve seen only say that the judge has decided only that the son is entitled to seek compensation, not that he will be awarded a particular amount. Different articles say he’s claiming the item were worth $25,000 or $29,000.
From the article I linked to above:
I was not previously aware of the Erotic Heritage Museum, or that they had experts on staff. (One wonders what the staff are titled. Curator of Autofellatio Arts? Director of the Department of Buttocks?) Evidently part of the value is based on it being of historical interest.
I’m glad the law still works the same way even if third parties reading about the case later find elements of it sordid, pathetic, tawdry, or downright goofy.
And, yes, I do.
FIELD TRIP !!!
How would they evaluate the value of the collection once it’s gone? Was there some kind of ledger or catalog of the items, like a museum would have? Seems unlikely.
Yeah but the article says he’s 42. That means he was 18 in 1996. Internet porn may not have been widely available at that time, but it wasn’t a decade away, either. And guys in their 20s were the early adopters. I kind of doubt he had the money to build such a large collection during the brief period of his teens and early twenties before most of his contemporaries switched to internet porn. Even among connoisseurs, he’s an outlier.
I am about 10 years older than him and I kept buying hard copy porn well into the 2000s. I wish I had had room to store it all properly. Digital images aren’t collectible. They don’t represent an archive or a history or a gallery as well as hard copies.
The guy seems pretty obsessive, so it wouldn’t surprise me at all if he had it all cataloged, cross-referenced, and classified by kink and according to a five-star rating system.
Maybe his collection included a mint edition of the Marilyn Monroe Playboy, or the magazine’s first run? A valuable copy of the Kama Sutra, or an first edition of Burton’s Arabian Nights? $29,000 seems awfully high if his porn stash was simply a collection of sticky Hustlers and VHS copies of Debbie Does Dallas; but if it were legitimately collectible historic erotica, that might explain the suit, the valuation, and his anger at his parents.
That figure would likely be what it would cost to replace each item today.
I suppose that is possible, but considering that his parents told him not to bring porn into the house, and he couldn’t afford to live somewhere else for several years then it doesn’t make a lot of sense he left such valuable items just sitting around like that. Everything can be valued though, just about any issue of any magazine might be sold for a dollar or two, maybe some porn mags are worth even more. Hard to believe he really had $25,000 worth of stuff but given the way people tend to start their damage claims maybe he’s got $2,500 worth of porn and after treble damages and a lawyer he’ll get to keep $5,000.
Yes, the $29,000 is his valuation, and could be a fantasy or at best a bargaining position. Note that it’s the parents who have hired experts to evaluate it, probably hoping they’ll say it’s worth $49.95.
I hope his ex shows up and claims half of the money.
By the way, if it was really worth several thousand dollars, then he sucks if he told his parents he couldn’t afford a place to stay after his divorce.