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| Carol Markin |
08/23/2011
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The dating website Match.com reached a court settlement Tuesday with a plaintiff who had been raped by a site user.
Carole Markin sued Match.com after being raped by a man she had two dates with through the website. The man, Alan Wurtzel, is a convicted sex offender.
- I checked his name, when this originally came out, and he was not on any registry I checked. So maybe he is a sex offender now, because of this case, but wasn't when she dated him, so this new invasion of privacy would not have prevented this rape. Hell, she has several books out on the subject, so why didn't she take her own advice? Anybody knows, or should know, not to invite someone you do not know into your home for God's sake.
Markin sued the Match.com alleging the site should have had background screening in place before allowing people to use the site.
As part of the settlement Carole Markin dismissed the lawsuit, which she did "with prejudice," and she gave up all rights to sue the company again for the incident.
- It's sad she was raped by someone, but it's also her responsibility to check people out before dating them. So, are we going to now have all dating sites, social networks, and possibly all web sites required to do background checks? Everybody wants someone else to blame, instead of themselves!
Both parties will bear their own court costs and attorney fees. The settlement stipulates that it does not constitute admission of liability by Match.com.
As part of the settlement, Match.com attorney Robert Platt read a statement aloud to the court Tuesday:
"As Match.com previously announced it would do, it is checking subscribers against state and national sex offender registries. The screening process continues to be refined."
- So, are you going to also check other criminal records for murderers, thieves, gang members, drug dealers, DUI offenders, etc?
"Although Match.com has no legal obligation to do this, for several years it has periodically evaluated the practicality of conducting such checks. Match.com now believes that a combination of improved technology and improved databases enables a sufficient degree of accuracy to implement this measure."
"Match.com continues to stress that while these checks may help in certain instances, it is important that this effort does not provide a false sense of security to our members. With millions of members, and thousands of first dates a week, Match.com like any other large community, cannot guarantee and is not responsible for the actions of its members."
"Match.com is a fantastic service, having changed the lives of millions of people through the relationships and marriages it has given rise to, but people have to exercise common sense and prudence with people they have just met, whether through an online dating service or any other means."
"When you go on a site like that, you do think of it as safe. You know people lie about their weight or their age, but you don't think they're going to lie about whether or not they're a sex offender," said Markin at a news conference after court Tuesday.
- People lie about their past all the time, and I'm sure she has once in her lifetime. Maybe you should read your own books some time!
"We believe there's going to be a domino effect to other online dating services, and that Match.com, being the largest, is now agreeing to set a new standard and raise the bar higher," said Mark Webb, Markin's attorney.
- Yep, they are sliding down the slippery slope. Pretty soon all sites will require your real name, and a background check as well. Even if you've never done anything wrong, that should worry you, unless you are someone who thinks the government should be your baby sitter!
Markin said she was pleased with the settlement, and that she sued the company for the greater good, and was not seeking money.
Markin said she wanted the incident to be an example for other online dating sites, and that the crime against her was preventable.
- Yes it was, if she would've not let the person into her home, and if she would've done her own checking before actually dating the man. But she's trying to pass the responsibility off to someone else, instead of herself.
