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Judge dismisses spring break smut suit
By BILL RANKIN

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Thursday, January 15, 2009

When Julie Amanda Tilton went to Daytona Beach during spring break, she competed in a number of risque contests at a local motel before hundreds of observers, some taking photos.

The Florida woman eventually filed a federal lawsuit after learning that footage of the contests had been posted on the Internet.

But on Thursday, the federal appeals court in Atlanta ruled against Tilton, effectively ending her suit seeking damages from the hotel, the owner of a video company and others.

Tilton, at the time a 17-year-old high school student, went to the Desert Inn Resort Motel in April 2001 after hearing about the contests. She competed in two wet T-shirt contests, a ?banana sucking contest? and a ?sexual positions contest.?

The owner of a video production company also heard an advertisement about the wet T-shirt contest. He went to the event, took photos and posted those, along with some video footage of the event, on his Web site.

Tilton?s lawsuit claimed Deslin Hotels, which owns the Desert Inn, had induced her to engage in ?sexually explicit conduct? and created an atmosphere it knew would draw others to take pictures of it.

Judge Bill Pryor, writing for a unanimous three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, said Tilton?s suit failed because she could not produce actual proof she engaged in such conduct.

Under the law, Pryor wrote, ?sexually explicit conduct? involves intercourse, other specific sexual acts or lascivious exposure of the pubic area.

Tilton?s conduct did not create the impression of an actual sex act and her pubic area was covered, Pryor wrote. As for the resort creating an environment conducive to photos being taken of sexually explicit conduct, her suit fails on that ground as well because she produced no evidence of it, Pryor wrote.

Tilton also sued Chad Ciani, owner of the video production company, on grounds he put photos of her on his Web site when she was a minor. But Tilton could not prove that Ciani, who removed the photos after Tilton lodged a protest, knew she was a minor when he took the pictures, Pryor wrote.