AIM To Be Hit With Class Action Lawsuit Monday

Battle worn AIM is about to be hit hard, again by AIDS Healthcare Foundation.

The actresses referenced here are Desi and Ellie Foxx

Two former actresses in the adult film industry, including Diana Grandmason, are filing a California lawsuit against Adult Industry Medical Health Care Foundation (AIM), a Los Angeles area HIV testing clinic funded by and serving the adult film industry, alleging privacy breaches of their protected patient health data.

The lawsuit, which will be filed in Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, on Monday June 28th (Case # TBA), includes claims of unfair and deceptive business practices, violations of civil code and unlawful public disclosure of private health information. The lawsuit also seeks class action status to include claims by other current and former adult film actors whose health information may have also routinely—and illegally—been released by AIM to film producers working in the adult industry. The lawsuit is being supported by AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), which has separately been championing safety reforms in the adult film industry including efforts to require the use of condoms in all adult film productions. Tom Myers and Brian Chase, two AHF attorneys working pro bono to represent the two former adult stars prepared the lawsuit and arranged its filing.

The lawsuit, alleges, “AIM violates the privacy rights of performers in the adult film industry by allowing the producers of adult films online access to workers’ health care information without the individual consents and releases required by federal and California law. AIM knowingly and intentionally provides this private information to producers of adult films in order to facilitate the production of adult films.” The legal action also asserts, “AIM further jeopardizes the health and well-being of performers in the adult film industry by discouraging the use of condoms and other safer-sex practices known to prevent and dramatically reduce the spread of STDs,” and “The actions of AIM violate Grandmason’s and Garren’s rights to privacy, the rights of individuals similarly situated to Plaintiffs, and further constitute an unfair and deceptive trade practice under California law.”

“While working in California’s adult film industry, both Bess and I were repeatedly tested for sexually transmitted diseases at AIM’s clinic,’ said lead Plaintiff Diana Grandmason. “I was tested for HIV, chlamydia and gonorrhea at AIM on nine occasions in 2008 and 2009, while Bess was tested for the same diseases on ten occasions in 2008 and 2009. We each had to sign sweeping release-of-information forms and pay AIM for this testing. AIM then made our medical test results available online to adult film producers and anyone else with a user name and password for AIM’s database—something we understand is illegal under state and federal law. And despite the fact that we have each been out of the industry for more than a year, it is our understanding that our private health data still remains freely—and illegally—available online at AIM’s database. With this lawsuit, we hope to stop AIM from violating our and other patients’ legal rights.”

“In exchange for its monopoly position as the sole provider of sexually transmitted disease testing within the adult film industry, AIM provides the producers of adult films with unfettered online access to confidential health records of AIM’s patients, and publicly defends the adult film industry’s refusal to adequately protect performers from the spread of STDs,” said Brian Chase, one of the pro bono attorneys working on the case. “AIM also steadfastly opposes any efforts to require the use of condoms in the production of adult films, wrongly insisting that its monthly testing for a limited number of STDs is sufficient protection for performers. We believe that AIM is in clear violation of federal and state law, and that its actions and ongoing business practices repeatedly place thousands of people like Ms. Grandmason and Ms. Garren at risk of disease and death.”

Grandmason and Garren’s lawsuit asserts that they, and an untold other number of current and former AIM clients who sought—and paid for—STD and HIV testing services at AIM’s clinic in order to work in the adult film industry, had their civil and health privacy rights violated. The lawsuit alleges three causes of action including:

* First Cause Action: “AIM’s disclosure of medical information regarding the Plaintiff’s and the Class constitutes a violation of Civil Code §§ 56 et seq.”
* Second Cause Action: “…AIM has disclosed Plaintiffs’ sexually transmitted disease test results, in violation of state and federal law,” and
* Third Cause Action: (in three distinct areas)
o AIM’s ongoing disclosure of sensitive medical information constitutes an unfair, fraudulent and deceptive trade practice under Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17200.
o AIM’s requirement that adult film performers sign the AIM Release, illegally authorizing the dissemination of private medical information and purporting to indemnify AIM for any damages caused by the release of that data, constitutes an unfair, fraudulent and deceptive trade practice under Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17200.
o AIM’s collusion with the producers of adult films to create a monopoly in the provision of sexually transmitted disease testing for performers constitutes an unfair and deceptive trade practice under Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17200.

“We are grateful for the support of AHF in our efforts and for the pro bono legal work being done on our behalf,” added Grandmason. “We also ask the court to seriously consider certifying this case as a class action on behalf of all those people whose health and privacy rights may have been repeatedly violated by AIM’s deceptive and illegal practices.”

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is the largest global AIDS organization. AHF currently provides medical care and/or services to more than 137,000 individuals in 23 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. www.aidshealth.org

38800cookie-checkAIM To Be Hit With Class Action Lawsuit Monday

AIM To Be Hit With Class Action Lawsuit Monday

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13 Responses

  1. @MikeSouth1226 WHOA! I read that article, so they r going to court over protective rights?

  2. I know some of you are intelligent people, like Mike South, but monitoring the drama on some of these porn sites is like watching two retards in a special ed class have a battle of wits to decide which one wins the opportunity to stick their finger in the light socket. Sometimes it’s funny, but mostly it is just disturbing. I made public education free, and I created community colleges so you people would get an education…

    When did high school counselors start teaching that doing porn was manditory and that “plaintiff” was a career choice?

  3. so it would be better someone has aids and infects a bunch of people. Im surprised aim didnt have legal create a document that when you got tested thru them you waived all those rights.

  4. I don’t know. It pisses me off. Gay porn has no mandatory testing. It’s supposed to be condom-only, but plenty of it is non-condom, better known as “barebacking”. It’s up to the individual performers to get tested, but because there’s no mandate to make them do it, lest they lose there work for the day, HIV and STD’s are an epidemic, much more so than on the straight side. That’s why it makes me angry when Shelley Lubben lumps the entire industry into statistics and then focuses the rest of her speeches on the straight side. Then again, she has eluded to being against gay people.

    If you sign a release so companies can see your records, then you must know that they’re going to show your records to the companies. They don’t give access to just anyone, and it’s not like they do a full exam and send people you’re X-rays, blood type, a picture of you DNA strand. I worked at a company and the reason you need access to the data is because the talent frequently shows up without their test. Talent has also been know to fake tests and infect people knowingly, and without any conscience about it.

    “AIM further jeopardizes the health and well-being of performers in the adult film industry by discouraging the use of condoms and other safer-sex practices known to prevent and dramatically reduce the spread of STDs.” Where is the resource that proves that statement. They have tubs full of condoms at the clinic. And the video Sharon and Nina put together for people first entering the industry is all about choice, not telling someone they shouldn’t work with condoms.

  5. If Obama or anyone else made these comments, it would be slander: “AIM further jeopardizes the health and well-being of performers in the adult film industry by discouraging the use of condoms and other safer-sex practices” and “AIM also steadfastly opposes any efforts to require the use of condoms in the production of adult films” I cannot find one single piece of evidence that suggests AIM has ever said or implied that performers should never use condoms. In this case, they can’t claim truth as a defense and these aren’t causes of action in the lawsuit. AIM may be opposed to mandatory condoms being an “alternative” to testing, but I’ve not seen them make any statement that they are opposed to mandatory condoms as a supplement to testing.

    The first quote may be misinterpreted as AIM intentially discouraging the use of condoms, when their intent of the statement may be that producers/performers themselves make the choice not to use condoms because they rely on AIM’s tests. That, however, is not the fault of AIM anymore than an auto owner with installed airbags can blame the auto manufacturer for the owner’s desire to drive excessively recklessly due to 1 added safety feature in their car.

  6. @MikeSouth1226 hi Mike, Mark Kernes is on it, just finished his article 🙂

  7. gee better late than never its only been an item here for more 24 hrs, even gene ross picked it up this morning….I mean I would want AVN to be ahead of the curve on something like this.

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