Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010 | 1:51 p.m.
A Las Vegas woman is seeking damages after truTV and its "Inside American Jail" show labeled her a "naughty girl" and showed her acting provocatively while she was being held at the Clark County Jail.
Tina Vlijter filed suit Nov. 19 in Clark County District Court against truTV owner Turner Broadcasting System Inc. and Langley Productions Inc.
A copy of the suit on the courthousenews.com website shows it alleges that after Vlijter was arrested on July 1, 2008, on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol, she was taken to the Clark County Detention Center where personnel from Langley Productions filmed her while she was waiting to be processed and as she was booked.
"Plaintiff was extremely intoxicated at the time and does not recall signing a release or waiver giving Langley permission to use plaintiff's image," the suit charges.
Even if a waiver were to be produced, Vlijter maintains she lacked the capacity to enter into a waiver agreement due to her extreme intoxication at the time.
The suit says footage of Vlijter was edited into a segment called "No Laughing Matter" and was broadcast by the network. It shows her joking with jail staff, flirting and undoing her blouse to expose her cleavage.
The suit charges the segment was edited to "embarrass the plaintiff" and was "sensationalized" in an effort to demean her.
The suit says the segment at one point was featured on the truTV website's "Naughty Girls" segment, but it appears to have since been removed from the site.
However, several versions of the segment are available on YouTube with labels like "Tina Goes to Jail" and "Hot Blond Tina in Jail."
A message for comment was left with an attorney for Turner Broadcasting on the suit, which alleges that because of the broadcast Vlijter "has been the subject of an avalanche of personal ridicule, scorn and unwanted recognition for the way she was portrayed on "Inside American Jail."'
The suit, filed by attorneys Easton Harris and George Greenberg of the Las Vegas law firm Greenberg Harris, seeks compensatory, general, exemplary and punitive damages of at least $60,000.
Allegations in the suit include defamation, breach of Vlijter's right to privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress upon her.
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