Bullard v. MRA Holding, LLC
Supreme Court of Georgia
740 S.E.2d 622 (Ga. 2013)
While a 14-year-old girl on spring break in Florida, Lindsey Bullard (plaintiff) was filmed exposing herself, aware of and not objecting to the filming at the time; years later, MRA Holding (defendant), a pornographic video distributor, used the footage and a still image of Bullard in one of its "Girls Gone Wild" videos and on the video's box cover, marketing and selling the product nationwide, including in Georgia, where Bullard was then living and attending school. Bullard sued MRA in federal court in Georgia for unauthorized appropriation of her likeness, and the district court certified a choice-of-law question to the Georgia Supreme Court to determine whether Georgia or Florida law governed her claim.
Whether, in a tort claim, the doctrine of lex loci delicti requires a court to apply the substantive law of the state where the plaintiff was injured, rather than the state where the underlying wrongful act occurred.