A property owner in an exclusive South Florida resort community has sued an operator of porn websites, alleging he can no longer rent his apartments out after BangBros.com used one of them for a video shoot without his permission.

Fisher Island (population: 467), which is three miles off the coast of Miami, is accessible only by private ferry and helicopter. The well-heeled residents include tennis great Boris Becker and filmmaker Mel Brooks and Oprah Winfrey recently sold a two-bedroom apartment for $1.1 million.

Pornographers would not normally have access to the island but BangBros.com allegedly used an apartment owned by Raul Quintana to shoot “A Sexy Golfing Experience” there with porn star Devon Lee.

Quintana charged $600 for the one-day shoot, but it apparently wasn't a good experience for him. In a complaint filed last week, he says BangBros made “false and deceptive representations,” telling him it would use his property only for “a modeling photo shoot.”

The distribution of the video, the suit says, has resulted in Quintana being “ridiculed by members of Plaintiff[']s community” and he has “lost the rights to rent Plaintiff's and Plaintiff's families['] units on the island” -- costing him more than $100,000 in monthly rental income. His entire Fisher Island real estate portfolio, worth more than $25 million, is now in foreclosure, he alleges.

Quintana -- who apparently did not suspect what business a company called BangBros might really be in -- is seeking unspecified damages for fraud, breach of contract, unfair trade practices, and defamation.

“Defendants knew or should have known that the house was on a small private island and Defendant's proposed commercial use never would have been permitted without authorization from the community association,” the suit says.

The covenants of the Fisher Island Community Association state that “No Lot or Unit shall be occupied ... in [any] event other than as a residence.” The association's rules committee may assess fines for “improper rentals,” but Quintana's suit does not explain how he could have suffered such a severe consequence as loss of rental rights for an unauthorized commercial use of his property.

How Quintana can show damages for fraud is also unclear since court records indicate he was having financial problems several months before “A Sexy Golfing Experience” was posted online. Lenders on two of his Fisher Island units -– for which he paid a total of $7.2 million -- filed notices of foreclosure in April and May 2008.

As for defamation, Quintana claims the “publishing” of his home “for an unauthorized commercial purpose” damaged his reputation. But “A Sexy Golfing Experience” makes no false statement of fact about him or his home.

In 2005, a Florida judge found that a homeowner violated the covenants of her community association by renting her property to the operator of a pornographic webcam site.

By Matthew Heller
10/12/09