The radio moralist went to court Friday to get an emergency injunction against the adult Website that had posted a "dirty dozen" photos of her twentysomething self frolicking in the buff. She also filed a lawsuit against the site.
The photos, taken by her onetime mentor and former radio host Bill Ballance, went up on Internet Entertainment Group's Club Love (www.clublove.com) at 8 a.m. ET, and were taken down about 10 hours later by court order. Strategically blacked-out versions of the snapsnots are still online.
U.S. District Judge Dean Pregerson has set a November 2 hearing on the case.
The company says it will fight the ruling. "We are confident that when all the legal aspects of this case are finished, we will prevail in our right to carry the photos and news stories about Dr. Laura," IEG President Seth Warshavsky says.
The Seattle-based IEG, of course, is no stranger to court orders. The company battled to post the infamous Tommy and Pamela Lee sex tapes, and is currently being sued by Pamela Lee and Bret Michaels over their videotaped romp.
IEG says Ballance provided them with the pictures after Schlessinger denied the two had a physical relationship. Ballance claims to have been Schlessinger's lover at the time the photos were taken, while the family-valuing Laura was still married to her first husband. The Website says it paid "tens of thousands of dollars" for the pics.
Dr. Laura, now 51 and remarried to her manager, is the author of How Could You Do That? and The Abdication of Character, Courage and Conscience. Her syndicated radio show reaches about 20 million listeners daily.