Irish case by US woman who claims her child abuse appeared on adult sites adjourned

The woman claims that she was drugged and raped by a man when she was a minor, and that he recorded what happened and posted the images online

Mr Justice Brian Cregan adjourned the High Court case to March to allow for the approval of a $120m settlement of the US proceedings in the Northern District of Alabama. File photo

A High Court case in which a woman claims recordings of her being sexually abused as a child appeared on adult websites associated with "PornHub" has been adjourned for six months after a judge was told that approval is awaited of a $120m (€105.5m) settlement of an associated US class action.

The woman, who lives in the US and has been given the name "Jane Doe" to protect her identity, claims that she was drugged and raped by a man when she was a minor. She claims that her abuser recorded what happened and posted the images online.

It is alleged that videos of her abuse were published and distributed on various adult video sharing websites owned by the International group of companies that own, control and manage internet pornography websites including PornHub.

As a result, a class action on behalf of the woman and others, has been brought in the US courts, against various parties within the MindGeek, (now renamed AYLO) group of companies. MindGeek, before its name change, is PornHub's parent.

The woman's allegations of wrongdoing by the group have been denied.

In a damages claim before the US courts, the woman alleges that she has been victimised and has been exploited by the defendants for profit.

Due to the international structure of the defendant group the woman sought to bring parallel proceedings before the Irish courts. It is also alleged that the Irish entities have substantial assets.

The defendants in the Irish action include the limited companies AYLO Billing, Mirmay, Nutaku Publishing, Appatomic, and Liquidum, which all have a registered address at The Black Church, St Mary's Place, Dublin.

Other defendants in her proceedings are MG Freesites Ltd, MG Freesites II Ltd, AYLO Premium Ltd, MG Social Ltd, MG CY Holdings Ltd with a registered address in Cyprus, California-registered Mindgeek USA Incorporated and Mindgeek SARL, which is registered in Luxembourg.

In her Irish proceedings, the woman seeks various orders including aggravated and exemplary damages for what she claims is the defendants' breach of duty, and breaches of GDPR, conspiracy and her right to privacy.

She also wants an order directing the defendants to identify and remove images of child sexual abuse from the websites and the identities of users who have uploaded the images.

She also wants an order directing the defendants to preserve all assets and cash reserves in Ireland below an amount of US$630m pending the outcome of the actions in Ireland and the US.

In the US, the defendants recently agreed to settle a class action, on behalf of the woman and others depicted in the material, and pay US$120 million.

Mindgeek also agreed to injunctive relief which will see it make substantial changes to its sites in order to protect children. The settlement is subject to court approval in the US.

The Irish case was back before the High Court on Wednesday when Robert O'Reilly BL, for the woman, sought an adjournment to allow for the approval of a US$120m settlement of the US proceedings in the Northern District of Alabama.

Mr Justice Brian Cregan adjourned the case to March.