Models sue strip club over ads
A group of high-earning professional models from around the country is suing a Houston strip club for using their bathing suit and Halloween costume ads without permission on flyers, giving the illusion that they work at the highway stop establishment.
The federal lawsuit says Chicas Cabaret in north and south Houston falsely advertised Halloween and rodeo events showing images of seven internationally known models, including three who posed for Playboy and one who is in medical school. The women from California, Oregon, Nevada, Georgia and Texas never worked at Chicas or any strip clubs. They say the ads were defamatory and are seeking an injunction and damages.
The litigants include Sara Underwood, of Oregon, the 2007 Playmate of the Year, who has over 5 million social media followers; Mercedes Terrell, of Nevada, one of the better known “ring
girls” for Bellator MMA fighting; and Irina Voronina, of California, Playboy’s Miss January 2001, who also has millions of followers and has done promotions for SKYY Vodka, Miller Lite, Michelob Ultra and Bacardi. Voronina’s screen credits include appearances in Nickelodeon’s “iCarly,” “Reno 911!” and “Reno 911!: Miami.”
Jessica Burciaga, a model based in Atlanta, runs her own online swimwear company, www.SailorandSaint.com. She says images from her business were misappropriated in Chicas ads. The February 2009 Playmate of the Month appeared as herself in several episodes of the reality series, “The Girls Next Door.”
Others involved in the lawsuit are Californiabased models Jessica “Jesse” Golden and Rosa Acosta, and Brooke Marrin, who also uses the name Brooke Banx, who is from Texas.
Lawyers say Banx is shown in a Chicas ad dated Feb. 26, 2020, for the club’s “2020 Houston Rodeo” event. She has been featured in FHM, www.savvy.com and America Curves magazine. She recently completed a biology degree and is attending medical school.
The club owner, Robert B. Harrison Jr., did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
Dennis Postiglione, who represents the women, said repurposing of images from catalogs is fairly commonplace. His Austin firm has won or settled several similar cases around the country under the Lanham Act, on charges that a strip club was engaging in false endorsements or advertising. The Casas Law Firm, P.C. has also successfully brought claims against plastic surgeons and dentists who lifted models’ images without permission, he said.
But when a strip club does it, the damages to a person’s reputation are worse, he said. He noted that three of the women make at least seven-figure incomes.
“This happens all over the country, and our clients are very serious about getting it shut down and being compensated for the use of the image,” he said.
Postiglione said many of the women whose ads get repurposed for strip clubs began their careers posing for party store catalogs in sexy nurse or devil Halloween costumes.
The women who sued in Houston say they’re wellknown professionals who make their livelihood by modeling and selling their identity, image and likeness to companies for advertising, endorsements or promotions.
Their lawyers say they are “internationally known for gracing the covers of countless mainstream publications in addition to having careers in television and film” and “easily identifiable at a glance.” They allege Chicas, which bills itself on social media as the “#1 nude club in Texas” gained a benefit from unauthorized use of the women’s images.