Son wins lawsuit against his parents for throwing away his $29,000 porn collection
Disgruntled divorcée son, 42, WINS lawsuit against his parents and now they must pay HIM for throwing away his ‘disturbing’ collection of 2,000 porn tapes which he says is worth $25,000 after he moved out of their basement
- David Werking, 42, moved back to his parents’ house in 2016 after a divorce
- He brought his stash of pornography and sex toys during the 10-month stay
- When he moved out, his parents threw away his X-rated collection
- They claimed some of it included child porn, that he had an addiction and that his attitude towards women was ‘disturbing’
- Twerking had asked them for his 12 boxes of porn, sex toys, tambourine and black comforter back
- When they said they’d thrown it away, he called the police
- He then sued them, claiming it was worth more than $25,000 because that is how much he spent on it
- A judge agreed with him and told the to pay damages but the amount has not yet been decided
A man has won a lawsuit against his parents for getting rid of his pornography collection worth $25,000.
David Werking, 42, sued parents Beth and Paul after they threw out ‘a trove of pornography and an array of sex toys’ from their home in Grand Haven, Michigan.
The parents must now pay damages to their son for an amount which is yet to be determined.
But Werking kept detailed record of how much money he spent on the porn, most of which was from the 80s and 90s. He is now demanding triple that amount as punishment for ‘wanton destruction of property’.
In total, he listed more than 400 VHS tapes and 1,600 DVDs that he said they had thrown out.
US district judge Paul Maloney ruled in favor of Werking who said his parents had no right to throw out his collection.
He had returned home for 10 months in 2016 after a divorce before moving to Muncie, Indiana.
But he noticed a dozen boxes of VHS tapes, DVDs, magazines and sex toys worth an estimated $25,000 were missing when they sent his possessions to his new address.
Parents Beth and Paul Werking are shown. They have been told they need to pay their own son damages for throwing out his ‘disturbing’ pornography collection after throwing him out when he lived in their basement for free, aged 42, following his divorce. The son is not pictured
The Werkings had told their son that he could not bring the pornography to their home and if they found it, it would be destroyed.
His father said in an email: ‘Frankly, David, I did you a big favor getting rid of all this stuff.’
The parents kept some of the pornography, which they described as ‘the worst of the worst’, in a safety deposit box out of concerns it could be illegal.
Police reviewed the X-rated material and found no evidence of illegality and no charges resulted from it.
They then threw it away. In one email, his father Paul said to him: ‘I do not possess your pornography. It is gone.
‘It has been either destroyed or disposed of. I may well have missed a few items that are now in your possession but, at this point, if you don’t have it, it is gone.
‘Ditto for your sex toys and smutty magazines.
‘We counted twelve moving boxes full of pornography plus two boxes of “sex toys” as you call them. We began that day the process of destroying them and it took quite a while to do so.’
One of the emails that Twerking, now 42, sent his father. In it, he said there were ‘college girls waiting to be made into women’
In one email to his son, Paul Werking argues about some of the content he found and said ‘it was not natural or normal’
These are just some of the titles that Werking kept in boxes in his parents basement. The full list is 17 pages long and highly explicit
In another email, Paul, his father, said: ‘David, I find your whole attitude toward women to be very disturbing. Women are not objects for you to masturbate with, they are people created by God just as you were and should be treated with respect and dignity.
‘Back in high school you joined a gang that made its money by distributing pornography to underage boys. I am sure that you remember the day when Mom and I discovered this and put a stop to it.
‘At that time, I destroyed all of your pornography and reported your activities to Pickerington High School officials and other parents.
‘I also warned you that if I found pornography in my house again I would destroy it.’
His father added that when he got married, he and his wife thought he’d become ‘Mary’s problem’ and they would no longer have to worry about him.
‘At that point we figured that you were Mary’s problem and not ours.
‘Apparently, the love of a good woman was not enough to turn you from your evil ways. After ten years of abuse, Mary had enough and kicked you out. After living on the street for a while we allowed you to live with us again despite the way you mistreated us,’ he said.
His father also described discovering the large stash of porn in the basement, saying: ‘We were not surprised that you lied to us about having pornography because you lied to us every day about other things for the entire ten months that you lived with us.
‘However, we were amazed at the magnitude of the lie. We counted twelve moving boxes full of pornography plus two boxes of “sex toys” as you call them.
‘We began that day the process of destroying them and it took quite a while to do so.’
In another email, his father had asked: ‘You are almost 40 years old.
‘How has life worked out for you so far? Maybe now is a good time to change your goals and how you live.
‘Don’t worry, I’m not going to preach at you again. I think that you know enough that you can figure it out for yourself and that you know where to find the answers.’
Irate, Twerking – who had also asked them for his ‘tambourine’ and ‘black comforter’ back, phoned the police who then contacted his parents.
The emails in 2015 begin with Beth, Werking’s mother, offering to send him winter clothes because he has nowhere to live and inviting him to stay with them for a while
He complained to her about possibly living in the basement, saying he wanted to ‘move onto painting with oils’ and needed natural light
The judge who sided with Werking – Paul Maloney. He is shown being sworn in in 2007
In an angry email to his dad, he’d also said: ‘There’s plenty of porn on the internet if you want to watch that Dad. Try youporn or xhamster.
‘Believe me, I know you need it with mom around. I needed it with Mary around. Meanwhile for me there are college girls out there waiting to be made into women.’
Werking’s ex-wife Mary, with whom he shares a daughter
They admitted to destroying some and said they kept some other DVDs in a safety deposit box in case it was illegal.
Judge Maloney said: ‘There is no question that the destroyed property was David’s property.
‘Defendants repeatedly admitted that they destroyed the property.’
Werking’s parents said they had a right to act as his landlords and had warned him not to bring pornography into the house.
‘Defendants do not cite to any statute or case law to support their assertion that landlords can destroy property that they dislike,’ the judge said.
Maloney told both sides to file briefs on the financial value of the collection.
‘The court does not intend to hold an evidentiary hearing,’ he said.
Werking and his parents have until February to file written submissions outlining the total damages.
The son’s attorney, Miles Greengard, says his client should receive treble damages, which he is entitled do under his claim of conversion of property.
