Former Wall resident awarded $10K in ‘revenge porn’ case – Star News Group

WALL TOWNSHIP — A woman originally from Wall Township was awarded $10,000 in damages by an Ocean County jury after suing her former high school math teacher for causing nude and semi-nude photos of her to be posted online.

Christopher Doyle, a former Wall Township High School math teacher, was accused by Kaitlyn Cannon of sending the photos of her to a website known for publishing “naked images of young women” and “revenge porn,” according to the suit, filed in Ocean County Superior Court.

The legal complaint stated that “In March of last year, [Ms. Cannon’s] intimate images were shared…in addition to her face being clearly visible in some of the images, the post further identified her by her complete first name and last initial.”

The suit was filed originally in 2019, a few years after Ms. Cannon’s graduation from Wall High School. In the complaint, attorneys alleged that Mr. Doyle had posted 14 intimate pictures of her to a porn website. According to court documents, the site provided the plaintiff’s lawyers with the IP address of the poster, which was then sent to telecom company Optimum in a subpoena to confirm the poster’s identity as Mr. Doyle.

The site “provided [Ms. Cannon’s] attorneys with the IP address of the individual,” the complaint said. “A subpoena response from Optimum for the account information for whom the IP address was assigned unveiled that the individual responsible for posting her images was Christopher Doyle, a math teacher and tennis coach at her former high school.”

In a statement regarding the verdict, one of Ms. Cannon’s attorneys, Daniel Szalkiewicz, thanked the jury and commended his client.

“We applaud Kaitlyn for having the strength to pursue her case and are thankful that the jury sided with her. We’ve been consistently impressed by Kaitlyn’s resilience and advocacy throughout this litigation and her true devotion to helping those who have been similarly victimized.”

However, the statement also noted attorneys’ concern that the jury award “isn’t enough to deter some people from committing similar acts in the future,” and said that “would-be perpetrators should know that a new federal law creates a presumed amount of $150,000 in liquidated damages.”

In a statement, James Uliano, attorney for Mr. Doyle, said that the verdict was reasonable and emphasized that he had not been found liable for intentional infliction of emotional distress.

“While a jury found Mr. Doyle liable for republishing intimate photos based on an IP address, the jury also unanimously found that Mr. Doyle did not intentionally inflict emotional distress upon Plaintiff,” the statement said. “The jury also declined to award Plaintiff any punitive damages. The $10,000 award was reasonable considering the evidence presented in the trial including the testimony that the subject[‘s] pictures were previously on the internet.”

The jury deliberated for less than an hour, awarding Ms. Cannon $10,000. It is unclear how Mr. Doyle came to possess the pictures, which Ms. Cannon originally took as selfies and sent to a former boyfriend.

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