In addition to posting nude photos of his ex-wife, Special Forces Maj. Adam Clark also allegedly used her photos to “catfish” men on the messaging app Kik.
A Fayetteville bartender won a $3.2 million verdict Monday against her Special Forces Major ex-husband and his new partner for spreading nude photos of her online in what appears to be North Carolina’s first revenge porn lawsuit to reach a jury verdict.
Elizabeth Ann Clark a year ago leveled accusations of alienation-of-affection, libel and revenge porn in the case against ex-husband Maj. Adam Matthew Clark and his new significant other, Lt. Col. Kimberly Rae Barrett, in Cumberland County Superior Court.
The verdict came down just before 5 p.m. Monday, lawyers said, following roughly an hour of deliberations at the end of a five-day trial.
Elizabeth Clark said Monday evening that she nearly fainted as the jury said it had sided with her and the monetary awards were announced.
Elizabeth Clark’s case said that she and Adam Clark, who is assigned to thee 3rd Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg, had been married since April 2010. They had two children together. She alleged that he began an affair with Barrett in 2016, when Adam Clark was temporarily working at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
Lawyer Michael Porter contended to the jury in closing arguments on Monday that Barrett, recently divorced and over age 40, wanted to start a family. She began her relationship with Adam Clark to make that happen, Porter said, and stole him away from Elizabeth Clark.
The evidence included sexting between Adam Clark and Barrett prior, in which he sent a sexually explicit video of himself, Porter said.
Barrett, a physician, has since come to Fort Bragg and practices at Womack Army Medical Center. Adam Clark has fathered a child with Barrett via invitro fertilization, Porter said.
Some of the other allegations in the case:
- Adam Clark was unhappy with the child support payments he owed Elizabeth Clark.
- He libeled his Elizabeth Clark by posting online that she had herpes and an eating disorder, which Elizabeth Clark said are lies.
- He posted online a topless photo of Elizabeth Clark on Facebook and to the Kik dating and sexual hookup app that she had sent him when they still had a sexual relationship. And he also posted an unflattering photo on Facebook of her in undergarments that she had made when she was trying to lose weight.
- He had stalked her.
Barrett and Adam Clark’s lawyers argued that there was little evidence that Elizabeth Clark had been harmed by the pictures and comments. There was evidence a version of it with her naked breast partly covered with a star was shared to Facebook.
The jury ordered Barrett to pay Elizabeth Clark $1.2 million and Adam Clark to pay her $2 million. The judge, Mary Ann Talley, assessed an additional $10,000 on Adam Clark for the revenge porn, Porter said.
Elizabeth Clark said the money, should she receive it, will help her take care of her children, particularly her 5-year-old son who is severely disabled with autism. She also hopes to further her education to provide a better life for her family.
In April 2019, Adam was also charged by Fayetteville police with cyberstalking. The charges allege that he was posing as his ex-wife on the social networking app Kik.
“Clark has been posing as his ex-wife, Elizabeth Clark, in private Kik ‘chat groups’ utilizing Ms. Clark’s name and images to interact with men in an effort to humiliate her and cause emotional harm,” Porter told the Observer. “Many people refer to this practice as ‘catfishing.’ The aforementioned Kik ‘chat groups’ appear to be dedicated to men and women within or associated with the military seeking to arrange illicit sexual encounters.”
Adam Clark has a misdemeanor charges of stalking and cyberstalking pending against him in Cumberland County District Court in connection with these allegations. Coker said Barrett testified she is being investigated by the military for adultery, which is a crime in the military, using her position to influence childcare and accessing the medical records of the Elizabeth Clark and her children.
The Fayetteville Observer
