Source: Reuters
By:
(LOS ANGELES, CA) — Actress Jennifer Aniston’s lawsuit against two magazine publishers for printing unauthorized photos of her sunbathing topless will proceed next week without a jury, the judge ruled Monday.
U.S. District Judge Ronald Lew said he would conduct a court trial and render a verdict himself – which is permitted for civil cases under federal law – because Aniston’s lawyers failed to demand a jury when the lawsuit was filed in 2000.
Aniston’s attorney, Jay Lavely, said the 33-year-old actress would proceed with her lawsuit and testify in court in Los Angeles unless the case was settled first.
The actress, who plays Rachel on the hit comedy “Friends,” sued Man’s World Publications Inc. and Crescent Publishing Group, claiming that paparazzi scaled an eight-foot wall to photograph her as she sunbathed in the backyard of her home.
The pictures were taken in February of 1999 and appeared later that year in the magazines Celebrity Skin, High Society and Celebrity Sleuth.
The pictures have also reportedly appeared in the Italian magazine Eva Tremila, the English newspaper Daily Sport and the French publication Voici.
Aniston settled her lawsuit against Celebrity Sleuth and has sued photographer Francois Navarre over the pictures in Los Angeles Superior Court.
Aniston, who is married to Hollywood superstar Brad Pitt, appears this year in the film “The Good Girl.”
