A popular ex-porn star is being dropped as the face of a multibillion-dollar Manhattan lawsuit against Match.com, making her the second hottie since January to be removed from top billing in the case.
“Melissa Midwest” Harrington — once among the top 10 most-searched names on the Internet — recently demanded that she be removed from the class-action, trademark-infringement suit.
Filed in November in Manhattan federal court, the suit accuses the Internet-dating giant and affiliated sites of posting tens of thousands of fake dating profiles featuring unsanctioned photos of pretty people to attract paying members.
Lawyer Evan Spencer had quietly amended the complaint in January to replace the original lead plaintiff — part-time Florida model Yuliana Avalos — with Harrington, a 31-year-old former porn princess from Omaha, Neb.
Spencer told the Post on Sunday he booted Avalos after receiving complaints that she and her boyfriend had previously sold sexy pictures of herself to the very same Nigeria-based Internet scammers whom she claimed in the suit exploited her.
New Jersey comedian Davin Rosenblatt – who reports about Internet scams on a weekly Internet radio show — provided him with many of the Avalos tips based on his research.
Spencer also said Avalos wanted out anyway because of the media attention.
Court papers filed Thursday say Harringon “demanded that she be withdrawn as a plaintiff” because she never agreed to be part of the suit.
Spencer said he plans to move forward without Harrington and with a watered-down version of the suit far different from the $4.5 billion class-action suit that made headlines worldwide.
He said it would include fewer allegations against Match and seek unspecified money damages only on behalf of Harrington’s ex-husband, Shane Harrington, who owned the rights to her sexy photos, and his company.
He blamed the Harrington fiasco on miscommunication.
“Melissa hasn’t been in the [porn] business for five years and decided she just didn’t want the attention,” said Spencer, who is slated to discuss his proposed new version of the suit in court Monday.
A Match spokesman declined to comment but has said the suit is “filled with outlandish conspiracy theories and clumsy fabrications in lieu of factual or legal basis.”
Spencer’s previous big cases include his successful defense of an X-rated “Star Wars” spoof called “Star Ballz” in a copyright-infringement suit filed by director George Lucas.