Martha's Vineyard artist reaches settlement with adult film company after suing them for secretly shooting at least 30 gay pornos including Daddy's Big Boy at her $1.2M home
An artist whose luxury Martha Vineyard home was turned into a porn set without her consent has reached a settlement with the porn company.
Leah Bassett, of Aquinnah, Massachusetts, sued Mile High Distribution Inc. in March 2018 after discovering her $1.2million home had been used for at least 30 gay pornos including Schoolboy Fantasies and Daddy's Big Boy between 2014 and 2015.
She also sued her tenant Joshua Spafford, a porn photographer, and porn star Monica Jensen - aka Nica Noelle - who works as an associate at Mile High Distribution Inc.
She sought unspecified damages claiming a breach of contract, improper use of the premises, copyright infringement and infliction of emotional distress.
The case was scheduled to go to trial on August 5, according to the Martha's Vineyard Times, but was canceled as a result of a July 23 settlement.
Details of the settlement have not been released, but it was apparently reached after all parties met for an alternative dispute resolution via video conference, Instinct Magazine reports.
The parties are now in a 60-day cooling off period, according to the Boston Globe.
DailyMail.com has reached out to both parties' attorneys for more information.
Homeowner Leah Bassett sued former tenant Joshua Spafford in 2018 over claims he used the home to film porn, with actors having sex in every room of the house she built with her father in Aquinnah, Massachusetts
One of the films allegedly shot in the house was 'Schoolboy Fantasies 2'
The film featured some of Bassett's original artwork in the background
Bassett first sued Jensen, Mile High Media and John Blitt - doing business as Icon Male and Transsensual - in 2018, three years after she rented out her beachside home in the western end of Martha's Vineyard to a Joshua Spafford.
They reportedly used her home for more than 30 explicit films between October 4, 2014 and May 15, 2015, the Times reports, with her original artwork in the background of films like 'Forgive Me Father, Volume 2' and 'Daddy's Big Boy.'
'When I returned to my house... it felt empty, cold and dead,' Bassett wrote in an affidavit. 'There were strangers' belongings hanging in the closets, rotting food left in the kitchen and the visions of what I had seen on the internet popping into my mind at every turn.'
She said she 'independently made the highly disturbing discovery that her personal residence had been used during the leasehold for the commercial production of graphic pornography.'
And, she admitted in court documents, she 'proceeded over the ensuing weeks/months to engage in a periodic - and admittedly somewhat obsessive review of' websites connected to Stafford, Jensen and Mile High Distribution, along with any other porn stars who talked about shooting in Martha's Vineyard.
As a result, the lawsuit said, she discovered 'numerous photos' and 'numerous clothed, nude, semi-nude, and/or graphic sex scene photos or video clips that depicted Ms. Bassett's home and its distinctive furnishings and artwork in the background or foreground.'
It added that the producers used 'nearly every room of her home for their porn production purposes, including nude, semi-nude and/or male ejaculatory scenes in her bedrooms, her living room and family room sofas, her stairwell, atop her dining room table, her bathrooms, her basement atop her laundry room appliances.'
They even used her linens and her hand-sewn pillows for 'male ejaculatory scenes,' the lawsuit claims, noting that Spafford never mentioned to Bassett he was planning to shoot pornography at the home she built with her father.
The porn aimed to be creepy, the Globe reports, and Bassett was reportedly 'freaked out' when she saw how her home was being portrayed.
Bassett had complained that when the house was returned to her in May 2015, there was extensive damage to the property that totaled in nearly $16,000. Pictured is one of the leftovers of the shoot
She said she found clothes and damage to her laundry appliances, where the actors reportedly had sex in some of the films
The homeowner says she didn't immediately realize her home had been used for a gay porn shoot but began researching when she noticed the damage (pictured is an unexplained stain on the tiles)
She had since allegedly been seeing a therapist, suffering from severe emotional and psychological trouble, and was unable to live in her home for two years.
The house, meanwhile, suffered around $16,000 in damage as a result of the tenants' stay there, Bassett alleged in her lawsuit, and claimed that Jensen did not get the proper film permits, and violated city zoning laws.
She reportedly gave Jensen and Mile High Distribution the option of settling for $3 million at the time, Instinct Magazine reports. It is unclear if that is how much the two parties agreed to settle for last week.
Jensen's attorney, however insisted at the time that the allegations are 'unfounded' and told the Globe that the lawsuit had simply stemmed 'out of a basic landlord-tenant dispute'.
A few months later, Roach filed court papers seeking an injunction against Bassett and her lawyer, John Taylor, from making 'disparaging' remarks about the pornography company.
In the court documents, Roach claimed they defamed the company by comparing its films to pedophilic acts and the 'sexual abuses in the Catholic Church.
It reportedly came after Bassett's attorney told the Vineyard Times that the company had a 'history of "predatory practices.'
The suit claimed Taylor said that Mile High's decision to relocate from California to 'a state that was ground zero for the sexual misconduct charges brought against the priests in the Catholic church' as well as the location of the rape and murder of Jeffrey Curley in 1997 added to the 'emotionally disturbing and objectionable nature of some of the predatory-themed "fantasy" porn films that were shot on the property.
The lawsuit names Monica Jensen, aka porn star Nica Noelle, an associate at Mile High Distribution Inc.
In his response, Roach slammed Taylor for creating 'an international news smear campaign,' writing: 'There exists absolutely no basis or justification for associating Mile High or Jensen with the instances of sexual abuses in the Catholic Church or the attempted sexual assault and murder of 10-year-old Jeffrey Curley.
'Rather, these defamatory remarks which have absolutely no relevance to the claims in this action, are evidence of Attorney Taylor and Plaintiff's clear intent to inflame and prejudice the public against the defendants.'
Taylor was also accused of continuing to stir up widespread media attention after he sent a six-page 'open letter' to 'ST8UPGAYPORN' blogger Zachary Sire - who has previously 'waged an online campaign of harassment and threats' against Mile High, according to the suit.
In the letter, Taylor allegedly 'threatened and intimidated potential witnesses' to provide favorable statements for him to use against Mile High and Jensen by saying 'anyone who initiates contact with me by email within the next 30 days will be assured of a "a pass" from being named co-defendant ...'
Mile High and Jensen argue the injunction is necessary since 'it is very likely that more false statements will be made by both the Plaintiff and Attorney Taylor in the upcoming months of litigation.'
But just last year, Bassett was granted a victory when a judge ruled that Jensen and the pornography company infringed on her copyright by including some of her original artwork in 10 different films, including 'Gay Massage House' and 'Schoolboy Fantasies 2' for at least 30 seconds.