AEE 2008 Legal Seminar
Questions from audience. 01/12/2008
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AVN - Attorneys Speak at AEE Open Forum - by Mark Kernes
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For the first time ever I decided to attend a free AVN seminar.
This one was about any legal questions and a panel of 4 well
known First Amendment Lawyers would answer questions from the
audience.
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Moderator...Guy from AVN. (Sorry, I missed his name)
Recorder....Mark Kernes from AVN.
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First question: What about choking?
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Each lawyer gave his opening comments and one lawyer went into
the 3 prongs on the Miller case. All 4 lawyers agreed that
choking was very risky and not a good idea. They spent a lot of
time of this. They suggested that choking was a red flag
that could get you into a lot of trouble. They talked about
the dangers of losing brain cells, injury and even death.
They felt that it was the responsibilty of the Studio to sit
the actress down and explain to her the risks involved.
One lawyer suggested that a choking consent form be used to
help protect the Studio and to inform the actress. They all
suggested that Studios have a first amendment lawyer, insurance,
workers comp and that they follow all the laws and make sure
they get all the proper work permits. None of the lawyers thought
choking was a good idea.
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Second Question: OSHA?
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What luck, both of these questions were mine.
They said the adult industry will not know what hit them when OSHA
joins the fray. Obscenty issues will be forgotten and it will be a
matter of fighting their regs and paying the immense fines.
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Mark Kernes report:
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Mr. Kernes report stated that the lawyers said the best way to
handle choking was to have a discussion at the end of the
movie where the pros and cons of choking are discussed.
I know that this is what they use to do back in the 1960's
and 1970's and that didn't seem to deter prosecutions.
I must have missed this portion of the discussion because it
is not in my notes. But, I do have a note saying that education
was very important and that they needed to teach and inform the
actresses that making porn movies was a very risky business.
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Den's Conclusion:
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My conclusion of the 90 minute discussion was that lawyers felt
choking was a bad idea and could potentially hurt the industry.
After the seminar I visited Attorney Michael W. Fattorosi of
Adult Biz Law and told him I submitted these two questions.
I thanked him for a very good and frank discussion.
I asked him point blank if choking on a porn set was illegal and
he said that choking with consent is legal and choking without
consent is illegal. (Sounds like a Choking Consent form that
explains the risks might be the answer).
I am not trying to say that Mark has under reported the 90
minutes, but he sure did leave out some significant points.
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Policy:
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CAVR has spoken out against choking many times:
* Choking policy.
CAVR has an editorial on OSHA.
* OSHA.
AVN does not have a policy on choking. But they did nominate
these 2 movies for Best of Year.
* Upload.
* Fashionistas Safado:Berlin.
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Follow-Up:
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I sent an email to Attorney Michael W. Fattorosi and he replied with
a correction and I have made that change. Thank you Mr. Fattorosi
for getting back to me so quickly.
I sent an email to Mark Kernes of AVN and he has not replied.
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Meeting date: 01/11/2008. 11:30am to 1:00pm. Email
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