Torn by porn

It’s rare for children to sue their parents or vice versa for whatever reason, but it can happen.

Last year, there was a report of a 27-year-old Indian man who announced that he was suing his parents. His case was even stranger. Raphael Samuel said his parents had no consent in giving birth to him. There was no update on the case though. Perhaps Samuel did not pursue the case anymore.

If cases of children suing their parents are rare, it’s probably even rarer for children to win a legal battle against their father and mother. But that recently happened in the case of Davind Werking, 42, of Grand Haven, Michigan, USA.

The rift between complainant Werking and his parents, Berth and Paul, started when he lived with them for 10 months in 2016 following his divorce. The parents later asked their son to move out, and Werking relocated to Muncie, Indiana. He left many of his belongings behind.

In 2017, Werking asked his parents to send his stuff over. However, the parents failed to return all of it. In fact, his father refused to return many of his son’s things and later admitted destroying all of them. This prompted Werking to sue his parents in 2018.

In his case handled by US District Judge Paul Maloney, Werking sought $75,000 in damages for the loss of his collections.

Werking initially sought only $25,000, but his lawyers were able to triple the amount because the items and property of Werking were irreplaceable.

In the course of their legal battle, proof that Werking’s father deliberately destroyed his things emerged. One was an email telling his son that he did him a favor by destroying the collection. His father also said in another email that the collections were illegal, which the judge disproved later.

Because of the parents’ admission, they eventually lost the case. In his ruling released on 10 December 2020, the judge said Werking’s parents had no right to throw out his collection so they have to pay damages.

With his legal victory, Werking can probably use the money to rebuild his lost pornographic collection consisting of 1,605 DVD, VHS tapes, toys and other paraphernalia and materials.