Teen boobie flasher sues Playboy

A woman who was 16 when she participated in a wet T-shirt contest featured in a Spring Break video is suing Playboy and others for about $1 billion in damages for the video`s filming and sale. Monica S. Pippin, 19, claims that contest organizers and video producers violated federal laws barring sexual exploitation of minors and state laws preventing the use of someone`s name or image without permission to promote or sell a product. Pippin appeared in the commercial video ``Playboy Exposed: All American Girls,`` as well as the pay-per-view show, ``Girls Gone Crazy: Spring Break,`` after participating in the contest at the Desert Inn in 2001. Defendants include Lincolnwood Motion Pictures, which shot the video; Playboy Entertainment Group, which distributed the video and Deslin Hotels Inc., which owns the Desert Inn. Pippins alleges the defendants ``persuaded`` or ``induced`` her to participate and concealed that the contest was being taped. She suffered mental pain and anguish and incurred medical bills related to her ``continuing injuries,`` the lawsuit claims. Playboy denies that the video shows Pippin engaging in sexually explicit behavior, said the company`s attorney, Tom Julin of Miami. He said use of her likeness in the video falls under permitted uses spelled out by a judge in a similar case involving a Tallahassee college student featured in a ``Girls Gone Wild`` video shot in Panama City. The Desert Inn`s attorney, Scott Sichon, said Monday that the hotel did not participate in the video`s filming and distribution and received no money from it. The hotel fired the disc jockey who ran the contest, Sichon said. Pippin is seeking about $1 billion in damages, or roughly $50,000 for every copy of the video sold or distributed through pay-per-view, said her attorney, Arthur Tifford of Miami. The case, filed in December 2002 in Tampa, is set to go to trial next year.