US judge says parents owe son over trashed porn collection

A US judge in Michigan has ruled that a 42-year-old man can seek compensation from his parents for destroying his pornography collection.

David Werking, who was living with his parents following a divorce, sued them for tossing the items, which he claims were worth over $25,000 (£18,500).

His parents argued that they told Mr Werking to not bring the items home.

The judge said that, even as landlords, Mr Werking's parents had no right to dispose of items owned by their son.

District Judge Paul Maloney said "there is no question that the destroyed property was David's property", adding that parents Paul and Beth Werking "repeatedly admitted that they destroyed the property".

The judge noted that the parents did not cite a statute or law that supported their claim that, as landlords, they could "destroy property that they dislike".

Mr Werking had lived with his parents in Grand Haven, Michigan, for 10 months after his divorce, but moved out in August 2017. He now lives in Indiana.

He said he had left his extensive and "irreplaceable" collection of magazines and films at his parent's house when initially moving out, and later discovered they were missing, the Holland Sentinel newspaper reported.

The parents said they were not willing to help move the items to Indiana and did not want them in their home.

Mr Werking filed the lawsuit arguing the items were illegally destroyed in April 2019.

Emails between Mr Werking and his father stated that the items included 12 full boxes of "pornography plus two boxes of sex toys", according to the Sentinel. Mr Werking said there were over 1,600 DVDs and tapes.

In one, Mr Werking's father told him he did him a "big favour by getting rid of all this stuff".

Following the verdict, an attorney for the parents said she was working to determine the damages, and had hired an expert from the Erotic Heritage Museum in Nevada to help with the process.

The Werkings must outline the damages to the court by mid-February.