GirlsDoPorn Trial Will Continue Despite Federal Charges (AVN)

Read the full article by Mark Kernes at AVN.com

SAN DIEGO, Calif.—The fraud/breach of contract trial that has pitted 22 Jane Does against GirlsDoPorn.com, its owner Michael Pratt, videographer Matthew Wolfe and actor/director Andre Garcia, as well as various shell companies created by Pratt, will continue later this week, despite the fact the U.S. Department of Justice filed charges against the company, Pratt and his employees last week for sex trafficking.

"I can’t see the benefit of staying this case for something I think was more than a specter on the horizon," said San Diego Superior Court Judge Kevin Enright, who has presided over the civil trial for the past nine weeks, but delayed proceedings last Thursday to give attorneys for both sides time to file briefs regarding the continuation.

Defense attorney Daniel Kaplan had argued that the civil trial should be suspended until the federal criminal charges are resolved, but no one has even hazarded a guess as to when those charges might be brought to trial, nor how long such a trial could be expected to last. On the other hand, plaintiffs' attorney Ed Chapin had estimated that there could be as little as two more weeks' worth of testimony left in the civil trial, and argued for its continuation.

But Kaplan suggested another reason for delaying the civil trial: It provides evidence the feds could use against his clients.