Class Action Accuses JustMugShots.com of Extortion, Embezzlement

A class action lawsuit accusing JustMugShots.com Corp. of publishing the arrest data and mug shots of individuals without their consent and extorting a fee to remove the information was filed in California superior court on Wednesday.

Plaintiff Zim Rogers filed the class action lawsuit, alleging that JustMugShots.com misappropriated his likeness for a commercial purpose in violation of California law. He says that the website posts names of individuals and photographs taken during their arrest without their consent or consideration of their innocence, along with details of their arresting charges. The company allegedly extorts a fee from the affected individuals to remove the information from the website.

Rogers also alleges that JustMugShots.com works to increase the search engine rankings of the website so that when someone performs an Internet search for a person, JustMugShots.com will be at the top of the search results.

“In an age when a primary source of information is the internet, Defendant’s conduct is akin to taking out a billboard on a busy highway and posting the face and name of individuals who have been arrested in order to charge those individuals a fee to have the billboard removed,” the class action lawsuit says.

Rogers alleges that the defendant operates JustMugshots.com and mugshots.mobi “with the sole purpose of posting the photographs and/or names of individuals who have been arrested.” Further, he claims that this information is often posted within hours of arrest and that “individuals cannot avoid the injury of having their image and/or name posted online before a judicial determination of their guilt, or even a judicial determination as to the lawfulness of the arrest.”

According to the class action lawsuit, it costs $199 to remove photographs and/or names from JustMugShots.com. Rogers alleges that once a person has paid to have their arrest data removed from the website, the defendant “has a pattern and practice of finding and posting additional photographs and/or names of those same individuals in an effort to extort additional payments.” Rogers also claims that the internet company derives revenues through paid advertising that incorporates the names of people listed on the website.

By filing the class action lawsuit, Rogers seeks to represent a class of individuals in California whose photograph and/or name appeared on JustMugShots.com and/or mugshots.mobi in the last four years. He alleges that he and the putative Class Members have been injured not only by the payments they made to remove their names and photographs from the website, but also by the public humiliation they experienced from the publishing of their arrest data.

The class action lawsuit asserts claims of misappropriation of likeness and violation of California’s Unfair Competition Law. Rogers is seeking class certification, an injunction prohibiting JustMugShots.com from continuing its practices, as well as general, special, consequential, punitive, exemplary and statutory damages. He also seeks attorneys’ fees and costs.

The plaintiff is represented by Brian S. Kabateck, Richard L. Kellner and Evan M. Zucker of Kabateck Brown Kellner LLP.

The JustMugShots.com Class Action Lawsuit is Zim Rogers v. JustMugShots.com Corp., et al., Case No. BC530194, in the Superior Court for the State of California, County of Los Angeles.

All class action and lawsuit news updates are listed in the Lawsuit News section of Top Class Actions