Woman Sues Former Classmate for Using Name in Adult Film Industry

HOUSTON – A Houston woman has filed a lawsuit against a former high school classmate who took her name and starred in pornographic movies.

Kristen Syvette Wimberly, 25, filed the lawsuit in Harris County District Court on June 26, asking that Lara Madden and adult-film distributor Vivid Entertainment Group stop using or publicizing her name, which Madden took as a stage name.

Madden, 25, began her adult-film career in 2004. The two met in ninth grade at Kingwood High School. According to the lawsuit, the girls "were friends but eventually that friendship ended due to conflict."

Madden has appeared in about a dozen adult films using the name "Syvette Wimberly." As a result, the lawsuit claims, Madden and the distributor have inflicted "humiliation, embarrassment, loss of enjoyment of life, emotional distress, mental anguish and anxiety."

Caj Boatright, the attorney for the real Syvette Wimberly, says her client started getting phone calls and e-mails from friends and acquaintances asking about her career in pornography.

"The purpose of the lawsuit is to get her to stop using this name," Boatright said. "We're not out looking for millions of dollars."

Kent Schaffer, Madden's attorney, said his client did not choose the name to cause a problem for Wimberly or to get back at her for some old grievance, but simply because she liked the sound of it.

"There is no bad blood between them," Schaffer said. "Lara never meant to harm this other girl."

Schaffer said Madden no longer performs in pornographic films.

"She has no connection to the adult entertainment business in any way, shape or form and has started her life over," he said. "She thought that was pretty much behind her. Then this lawsuit pops up."

The lawsuit asks for unspecified damages. But Schaffer said Madden will agree to stop using Wimberly's name if that's all Wimberly really wants.

"They'll never get a penny from her," he said. "She doesn't have any money, for one thing, but even if she did this suit will never hold up in court. I'm not aware of any court that has upheld such a lawsuit. If I use your name to defraud somebody, that's different."