U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson found several reasons to toss out the $10 million invasion of privacy lawsuit--including the fact that Tommy drums for that "very successful rock 'n' roll combo Motley Crue" and Pamela has fondly bared her body as a Baywatch star and Playboy model, making them both very public figures.
The couple claimed Penthouse used Pamela's image for commercial gain, publishing a June 1996 cover photograph of her in skin-tight red dress, and violated her privacy by printing intimate photographs inside.
According to the Lees, Penthouse acquired photos of the happy pair frolicking in various states of undress and planned to publish them without the couple's consent. The Lees charged that the photos were taken from a stolen sex tape the two had made.
That videotape, the Lees say, was swiped by a contractor doing work on their Malibu home. The contractor then sold the video "to the highest bidder," which turned out to be Bob Guccione's skin magazine. In addition to the $10 million in damages, the Lees sought the return of the tape and prohibition of its sale.
On Thursday, the judge reasoned that Penthouse was not liable in part because the photos accompanied a "newsworthy" article on the celebrity twosome. Wilson ruled that the intimate nature of the photographs didn't outweigh the news value of the article, and that the pictures were no longer private since they had already been published in the French and Dutch edition of Penthouse and in Screw.