Tina Sherman Nude Photos on Internet Result in $3 Million Lawsuit Against McDonald's

Tina Sherman has a problem. She is all over the internet. Nude. She's not even famous.

Strike that. She wasn't famous. Now she's internationally famous. All due to her husband's carelessness and a subsequent lawsuit he and she filed against McDonald's.

Confused? It gets better.

Tina Sherman sent some nude photos to her husband's cell phone. On a trip to McDonald's, Philip Sherman inadvertently left his cell phone behind. According to the Shermans, when Philip Sherman realized that the cell phone was missing, he called McDonald's and made arrangements with them for employees there to secure the phone until he could retrieve it.

Since then, Tina Sherman has received offensive calls and text messages about the pictures. The pictures also appeared on an internet website (and have been removed). It got so bad that the Shermans were forced to move, they claimed.

So they sued McDonald's. The lawsuit names the McDonald's Corporation; Mathews Management Co., the particular Arkansas franchise that owned the McDonald's where the couple had lunch; and Aaron Brummley, the manager of that particular establishment. The lawsuit is seeking $3 million, claiming that employees of the restaurant stole and uploaded the nude photos of Tina Sherman to a website. The Shermans are claiming mental distress, embarrassment and damage to their reputations. Additionally, they seek to recover earnings losses and the cost of changing residences.

Thus far, all defendants named have refused comment.

As strange as this lawsuit may seem, McDonald's has had other strange cases. Back in 1994, a jury awarded an 81-year-old woman $2.9 million after she accidentally scalded herself with a cup of their coffee from an Albuquerque, New Mexico McDonalds.

Back in 2002, a couple teenagers sued two Bronx (New York) franchises for damages related to their obesity.

But those cases have become famous for being frivolous and are often cited as such when anyone needs a handy or quick example of frivolous lawsuits.

The Tina Sherman case, if found to have validity and merit, is something different. If the Shermans' claims are true, that the staff of McDonald's in Fayetteville, Arkansas, allowed the nude photos of Tina Sherman to be transferred somehow, it may pose as a form of privacy invasion.

But it is going to be difficult to prove. The nude photos of Tina Sherman may have been uploaded to the internet by any number of means or through in number of agents, including by the Shermans (or one of the Shermans) themselves.

But if the Shermans have become victims of technology, prurience, and the managerial negligence of a McDonald's employee, a legal precedent may be set in this case.

But it has to be proven that it was the fault of the staff, that their actions or inactions caused the events that have led to detrimental occurrences in the lives of the Shermans.

But it all started when the nude pictures were taken.

And left on the cell phone.

And accidentally left at the McDonald's.

Some people never learn. After seeing all the crazy stuff on television and on the internet concerning people who have had the cell phones hacked or sent photos to the wrong people or sent their photos to the right people but later found their photos available online - you get the picture. And - in a worst-case scenario - so does everyone else who has access to the internet.

Sources:

Commercialappeal.com

Lawandhelp.com

NYTimes.com