BDSM MEDIA NEWS!!!!
November 02, 2013
Topless paparazzo wins $40,000 settlement from city.
Source: NYdailynews.com. - NYdailynews.com - USA
USA - NEW YORK - Holly Van Voast claims she was arrested at least 10 times since 2011 while touring the five boroughs with a painted-on moustache and a Marilyn Monroe wig, dubbing herself "Harvey Van Toast, the topless paparazzo".
Topless artist and photographer Holly Van Voast, who claimed the NYPD repeatedly violated her right to strut her stuff by putting her in cuffs, has agreed to settle her federal lawsuit against the city for $40,000, court papers showed Wednesday.
Van Voast filed her complaint in May, claiming she had been wrongfully arrested or detained at least 10 times since 2011 while touring the boroughs with a painted-on mustache and a blond Marilyn Monroe wig as "Harvey Van Toast, the topless paparazzo."
Van Voast, who recently relocated to Kentucky to write a book about her experiences in the Big Apple, said she hardly hit the jackpot.
"I think the amount is very low, considering what happened to me," said Van Voast, mentioning that the cops had her hospitalized several times for psychiatric evaluations.
"I can only call it abuse ... I was punished for being a creative New Yorker, for what people think New York is."
Van Voast said she settled with the city partly to avoid further negative publicity.
"The hostility was a nightmare," she said.
She said she just wanted to move on with her life.
"There was no way a judge or jury could be trusted with this," Van Voast said.
The 47-year-old said she was stopped on the subway, near an elementary school, in front of a "Hooters" restaurant, in the Grand Central Oyster Bar and at the Bronx Day Parade.
"The NYPD needs to be taught the proper way to handle bare breasts," her lawyer, Ron Kuby, said at the time, noting that the New York State Court of Appeals ruled in 1992 that women - and men - can legally go sans-shirt in public.
All criminal charges against Van Voast cited in the lawsuit were dropped prior to the settlement.
"We're pleased with the city's quick settlement of this matter and hope and expect that Holly Van Voast will enjoy many years being arrest-free and top-free," Kuby said.
The settlement allows the defendants to walk away without admitting guilt in the busts.
But in addition to the $40,000 due to Van Voast, the city will pay for her legal fees to the tune of $37,250.
“The City had solid defenses in these cases. Settlement for this amount for 10 incidents was merely a business decision,” said a spokeswoman for the city’s Law Department.
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