Ex

Aug 17, 2023

OCEAN COUNTY, NJ — A former Wall High School student has successfully sued an ex-Wall math teacher for posting to a porn website her nude and semi-nude photos she sent to a boyfriend years before.

Kaitlyn Cannon was awarded $10,000 after a civil trial in Ocean County Superior Court, her lawyer said.

The jury before Judge Valter Must in Toms River in a 6-1 verdict awarded the compensatory damages against her former teacher, Christopher Doyle, who has since resigned from Wall and teaches in another district. Cannon is now 29.

And while the award was not large, one of her attorneys said it vindicated her.

"Kaitlyn will have to monitor the internet for the rest of her life. She will be in therapy the rest of her life," one of her attorneys in the case, Cali Madia, said. The lead attorney was Daniel Szalkiewicz of New York, Madia said.

The suit against Doyle, whom Madia said lived in Ocean County but has since moved to Burlington County, came about when a friend of Cannon's alerted her in 2018 that her photos were on an online porn site that uses non-consensual photos of women. Her photos were sent by phone to her now former boyfriend years before while in college, Madia said.

Her boyfriend had told her that he had lost his phone, and Madia said from texts and interaction between the two it was clear that was the case.

According to documents filed in the lawsuit, "a couple of photos depicted only Cannon's face, several others showed her exposed breasts, genitals, naked buttocks, or in only her undergarments."

The civil suit was filed in 2019, Madia said, when her attorneys were able to track Doyle's IP address from Optimum Cable, used to access the website.

"Upon learning the name of the individual who had posted her intimate images online for the world to see, Cannon realized that the person responsible was a teacher at her high school. She never sent Mr. Doyle her images, did not consent to him sharing them online," the suit said.

Also, that the images were posted "on a board devoted to images of young women associated with the Town of Wall confirms that he was aware of (Cannon's) identity when he posted the images and wanted others to know her true identity as well." the suit said.

The suit said Cannon's attorneys notified the website on March 29, 2018, that the images were posted without her consent. The images were removed on April 4, 2018, the suit noted.

Doyle's attorney, James Uliano of West Long Branch, was not immediately available to comment Thursday on the outcome of the case. But Uliano did comment to NJ.com that the jury found Doyle did not inflict emotional distress on Cannon and declined to award punitive damages.

Doyle resigned from his position in Wall when faced with the allegations, Madia said. Cannon had long since been out of the district when the posting happened.

Madia said the entire incident has changed the direction of Cannon's life.

Cannon began her career working as a television producer for an educational network, she said.

Now Cannon, who lives in another state, has become a licensed social worker, specializing in helping people who have been victimized on the internet.

"There is a dearth of resources," in that area, Madia said.

Civil law has changed too, in such cases since the case was filed.

Madia said it was "a little surprising" that punitive damages were not found against Doyle.

But as of October 2022, a new law requires juries who award compensatory damages to also award a minimum of $150,000 in punitive damages for the plaintiff, Madia said. She said juries can also award more than that to deter such activities.