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LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A judge has put a hold on former Rep. Katie Hill's revenge porn case against Hill's former husband until the onetime politician is done with bankruptcy proceedings.
Hill sued her former spouse, Kenneth Heslep, and multiple media groups, in Los Angeles Superior Court in December 2020, alleging nude photos of her were published without her permission. Heslep is the only remaining defendant.
On Wednesday, Judge Serena R. Murillo put a stay on the case in light of the bankruptcy case and scheduled a status conference for Dec. 21. Although no one showed up on either side for the Wednesday hearing, the judge ordered that Anthony Friedman, an attorney for Hill, prepare a status report at least three days before the December session.
Another Hill lawyer, Carrie Goldberg, says in a sworn declaration that her client filed for bankruptcy in June 2022. The bankruptcy trustee is the only person authorized to pursue Hill's claim against Heslep because the remaining claims belong to the debtor and are subject solely to the trustee's administration, Goldberg says.
The media defendants were previously dismissed on free-speech grounds, and Hill was subsequently assessed thousands of dollars in attorneys' fees.
Hill submitted a lengthy sworn declaration in opposition to one of the media defendants' dismissal motion.
"My nude body is not a matter of public interest," Hill said. "Moreover, even if my alleged relationship was a matter of public interest, that does not justify the illegal worldwide dissemination of my nude image. I was humiliated and traumatized by the circulation of the nude image."
Hill alleged in her court papers that she lived in fear that if she ever tried to leave, Heslep would kill them both as well as their animals. She "suffered extreme emotional distress, attempted suicide and was forced to quit her job, which in this case was the representative of California's 25th Congressional District, one of the most difficult-to-get jobs in the universe," her court papers state.
Hill, 35, and Heslep officially divorced in October 2020.
Hill, a Democrat, resigned in 2019 after the nude photos were published and news emerged that she had a three-way relationship with her husband and a campaign staffer. She was also accused of having an affair with a member of her congressional staff.
She publicly blamed her then-husband for the release of the photos. Speaking in Congress in 2019, she decried a "misogynistic culture that gleefully consumed my naked pictures, capitalized on my sexuality and enabled my abusive ex to continue that abuse, this time with the entire country watching."
The 25th Congressional District includes the Santa Clarita Valley and portions of the northern San Fernando and Antelope valleys and eastern Ventura County. The seat had long been held by Republicans until Hill's 2018 victory over then-Rep. Steve Knight.
The seat is now held by Republican Mike Garcia.