Nerdy Lawyer Rant (2 of 4)

Let's attempt to look at this from a legal point of view.
- First, has the law changed so much that you can only bring a single cause of action in any lawsuit? I mean, DAMN. It would be malpractice to JUST bring the rape action and not bring the invasion of privacy. And if you CAN only bring one (which would be an astonishingly stupid rule), you'd likely ALSO be committing malpractice if you bypass the sure-winner invasion of privacy in favor of the slightly bizarre rape.
- Second, trespass??!! Trespass is an unauthorized intrustion onto someone else's LAND. It's a property crime. If they think a rape case is "out there" on these facts, trespass is miles further away.
- Third, is there even a civil action for rape? I mean, we all know from watching OJ that there's no civil cause of action for murder -- you bring a wrongful death cause of action. I think the civil action you'd bring in a case of rape would probably be battery (or maybe sexual battery) -- and the ESSENCE of a battery case is an unconsented-to TOUCHING. So they'd have a heck of a time with the elements of that one.
- Fourth, hello? Whatever happened to Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress? Cause, boy, the conversation jerk had with victim the next day is TEXTBOOK Intentional Infliction. And that's a cause of action that can get you punitive damages, too -- which means, y'know, ka-ching.

There's more. Sympathetic Hero Lawyer then finds out that jerk made a RECORDING of the virtual reality sex, and (what's worse) the recording (which apparently has a counter on it) indicates it has been viewed 30 times. Now, Sympathetic Hero Lawyer considers using the tape at trial, but (after a conversation with Drop-Dead Gorgeous Young Female Lawyer) decides not to, because it would be too traumatic for his client. He also decides there's no reason the client should even be told about the existence of the tape.

I'll concede that Sympathetic Hero Lawyer and Drop-Dead Gorgeous Young Female Lawyer do actually have a brief conversation regarding the ethics of this move -- but I'll just say I think that deciding not to tell your client about a piece of evidence you've found that can TOTALLY win the case, because YOU'VE decided it would hurt her feelings -- um, well, you're just ASKING for a malpractice lawsuit.