PDX strippers sue over hidden Web camera in dressing room
Friday, March 26, 2004

A lawsuit filed by nine strippers and a waitress seeks nearly one million dollars in damages from a northeast Portland strip club accused of having hidden Web cameras in the strippers' dressing room.

The suit, filed recently in Multnomah County Circuit Court, contends the hidden cameras at Exotica International Club for Men captured live video images from the dressing room that were streamed on the Internet.

The women, identified only in the lawsuit by their initials, contend the cameras constituted an invasion of their privacy. None of the women still work for the club.

"They are interested, almost all of them, in maintaining a rather high degree of privacy between their work as exotic dancers and the rest of their life... and that firewall was breached by what management did for their own gain," said Gregory Kafoury, the attorney representing the strippers.

"(The women) are den mothers, they are college students. One of them is a law student and (stripping) is something they do for money," he said.

However an attorney for the club's owner, North House Enterprises, questioned the invasion of privacy claim and said the women were all aware of the cameras.

"What's your reasonable expectation of privacy when you dance naked at a club -- when anyone could come in," lawyer Patricia McGuire asked. "You know your cousin could come in, your brother could come in, your dad could come in."

The lawsuit alleges the cameras were in place for an undetermined amount of time during late 2002, with management telling employees the cameras were solely for security reasons.

But the suit contends the club actually utilized the video cameras to attract users to the club's Web site. The court filing claims the Internet video streaming occurred without the women's permission or knowledge.

"The young woman have testified (in depositions) to having extraordinary feelings of outrage and betrayal at what was done to them," Kafoury said.

Source: KGW/Portland