Andre Yoskowitz
3 Jul 2010 12:52
In December of last year we reported that a 22-year old woman was arrested in Chicago for recording three minutes of the newest "Twilight" film with a digital camera at the movie theater, and was forced to spend two days in jail awaiting a hearing.
Samantha Tumpach faced up to three years in jail after being charged for criminal use of a motion picture exhibition.
Making the situation worse was the fact that Tumpach wasn't filming the movie and was instead taping parts of her sister's birthday party, which was taking place at the movie theater. Although the movie is in the background in clips, there are longer clips of family and friends singing happy birthday to Tumpach's sister at the theater. The situation was met with justifiable outrage from almost everyone who read about it, including the director of "Twilight: New Moon," who said the woman should have the charges dropped.
Fortunately, a week later, the prosecutors tossed out the case against her, and apologized for the time she had to spend in a holding cell.
This week, Tumpach has filed a civil suit, claiming the theater, the local police and the MPAA all recommended arresting her.
Tumpach is claiming emotional distress and malicious prosecution by the theater. The MPAA pays out a $500 award to any employee that catches consumers filming a movie with cameras, camcorders or phones.
One of the clips captured by the young lady was 85 seconds of her "favorite actor taking his shirt off."
Tumpach is seeking $50,000 in damages.