Jessica Cutler: Can't a girl just rat out her spanking fettish lovers these days?
When last we saw Jessica Cutler, the former aide to U.S. Senator Mike DeWine had written a tell-all blog about her sexcapades on Capitol Hill, and had just finished a
"fictional" book about her experiences.
She'd also managed to piss off quite a few people. One of them was
Robert Steinbuch, DeWine's former counsel on the Judiciary Committee and Cutler main squeeze, who, among other things, enjoyed long walks in the park, a fine glass of wine, romantic evenings replete with handcuffs and spanking. What he didn't like, however, was publicity about these things. So he sued Cutler for $20 million in damages.
When coming up with that number, Steinbuch, who now teaches at the University of Arkansas Law School, explained in court papers that he had to deal with the humiliation of his students Googling Cutler's diary on the web.
"It's not funny and it's damaging," Steinbuch's lawyer told a judge. "It's horrible, absolutely horrible."
Cutler's lawyer, in turn requested copies of Steinbuch's student evaluations. And a judge is expected to rule soon that the whole episode was, in fact, really funny.
But the case is not all about petty gossip and retribution. The tale has so inspired Marc Rotenberg, director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, that he may teach a course on the case at Georgetown Law School.
Better sign up now. We're betting it will be a popular one.
— Rebecca Meiser
