Daily Record

A former exotic dancer has reached a settlement with her former employer over nude photos of her that were posted on the employer’s Web site.

Kimberly Beckmann’s lawsuit against Kaos Gentlemen’s Club in Towson was heard June 22 by Judge Judith C. Ensor in Baltimore County Circuit Court. The trial was continued until Tuesday, when both sides went back to Ensor’s chambers and reached the settlement.

Rebecca L. Heyman-Magaziner, a Towson solo practitioner representing Kaos’ parent company Emerald City Inc., declined to comment, citing a confidentiality agreement that was part of the settlement. Beckmann, a Pennsylvania resident, represented herself in the proceedings.

Beckmann was a part-time dancer at Kaos in January 2006 when another dancer asked if she could take promotional pictures of Beckmann for use on the club’s Web site, according to an amended complaint. The club had hired the second dancer to shoot the photos, according to the complaint, filed in September 2007. Beckmann agreed as long as she could decide which photos, if any, would be used for the Web site, the complaint said.

The photographer also told Beckmann she could shoot personal photographs for a fee. Beckmann went to the photographer’s home in January 2006 and posed for nude photographs “for potential use as a birthday present for her husband and possible other private uses,” according to the complaint.

The following month at the club, Beckmann posed in her underwear for the photographer for the photos to be used on Kaos’ Web site, the complaint said. Beckmann selected three photographs for consideration but had not made a final decision concerning their use, according to the complaint.

A Kaos patron later informed Beckmann he saw pictures of her online. Beckmann went home and saw on the club’s Web site the dozen nude photographs she had taken, according to the complaint. She asked the club’s management to remove the photos, which was done several days later, according to the complaint.

Beckmann sought $300,000 for invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress from the club and the Web site developer, Khiante C. Hunter.

In a 2007 affidavit, a part-time disc jockey for the club said he introduced Hunter to Kaos’ management when he learned the club was looking into developing a Web site. Hunter created a dummy page using old photos, including Beckmann’s nudes, which mistakenly went live before it was ready, according to the affidavit. Club management did not know a dummy page was being created, nor had it approved the pictures on the page, according to the affidavit.

Hunter was dismissed from the lawsuit during the first day of the trial, according to court records.

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