If you don’t want to get photographed topless wearing a mermaid costume, don’t go to P. Diddy’s star-studded White Party topless wearing a mermaid costume.
So ruled Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Doris Ling-Cohan, who threw out a woman’s $3 million suit claiming that Sean “P. Diddy” Combs and Vibe magazine violated her privacy rights by printing her picture in the magazine. The photo shows Maria Dominguez, a 28-year-old hedge-fund money manager, frolicking in a pool with two other scantily clad sirens with the caption “Mermaids Gone Wild.”
Dominguez said she never gave anyone permission to take her picture at the 2003 party in East Hampton, and the magazine never asked for her permission to run it in their November 2006 issue, where it was featured in a spread on Combs’ parties over the years.
Dominguez said the publication of the picture showing her topless – with the exception of what appears to be a small starfish-shaped pasties – gave her “mental strain and distress and disturbance of peace of mind.” It also caused “irreparable harm” to her “reputation, goodwill and to her person” and forced her to lose “certain business opportunities.”
Her lawyer, Elio Forcina, declined to elaborate.
The suit sought $1 million each from the unidentified photographer for taking the picture, Combs for allegedly giving the picture to Vibe, and Vibe for publishing it.
Combs’ side scoffed at her lawsuit. “If you go to a party that has great public interest, and you see many, many photographers there taking many, many pictures – and you’re scantily clad – odds are your picture will be taken,” said the hip-hop honcho’s lawyer, Jonathan Davis.
Ling-Cohan agreed and shot down Dominguez’s contention that the article the picture illustrated had no news value.
“Sean Combs and his renowned annual White Party are subjects of tremendous public interest, attracting the steady attention of the public and many news organizations,” the judge wrote.
Dominguez’s lawyer said his client has found the Vibe experience “devastating.”