King County couple awarded $8.9M revenge porn verdict They were cyberstalked by an Arizona man for 2 years, reports say

Photo: Marilyn Nieves, Getty Images/Vetta Last month, the Courtney and Steven Allen won a $8.9 million jury...

Waking up every day meant facing new terrors for Kent couple Courtney and Steve Allen.

They fielded death threats. Police showed up at their door. They received harassing calls at work, as did their co-workers and supervisors.

Courtney suffered night terrors three to four times per week and maybe slept about two hours a night due to severe anxiety -- all this while taking care of her young son.

And it was because of one man Courtney met online.

"It was just a nonstop campaign against us," Courtney said.

But last month, the Allens won a $8.9 million jury award against their harasser -- Todd Zonis, a Phoenix resident with whom Courtney was formerly friends.

The Allens' lawyers say it was, to date, the largest award for non-celebrity targets of "revenge porn" -- a form of harassment in which perpetrators post explicit photos of former lovers online or send them to the victims' friends and family members. Dedicated websites exist showcasing the practice.

The case was litigated through the Cyber Civil Rights Legal Project by the international law firm, K&L Gates, which performs pro bono work for revenge porn victims.

The Allens' case was one of the "most incredible" attorney David Bateman had seen, he said.

Courtney Allen met Zonis through an online game called "Grepolis" in 2012. Eventually they became friends and their online bond grew romantic, with the sharing of explicit images and video chats, according to the initial complaint.

However, Courtney sought to end their relationship in late 2014 after her husband learned of it. She asked Zonis to stop contacting her.

However, Zonis continued to reach her through email, telephone and text messages, having sent at the time of the complaint more than 300 emails and more than 300 text messages. He also left voicemails with "lewd and explicit language," according to the lawsuit.

Zonis then "began a vicious campaign to harm and humiliate Ms. Allen and Mr. Allen," the complaint reads.

The harassment included: Sending sexually explicit videos of Courtney Allen to her husband and family, friends and neighbors; impersonating the couple with fake social networking profiles and posting intimate photos and videos of Courtney along with defamatory statements; calling members of the Allens' family with threatening messages; sending explicit images and videos of Courtney to her and her husband's employers; mailing and emailing the Allens' neighbors with letters accusing Steven of domestic violence and child abuse; and making false reports to police about abuse.

This was all in addition to the litany of direct threats with which Zonis reportedly inundated the Allens. No protection order the Allens sought through courts stopped him, according to the complaint.

Their 4-year-old son lost friends and Zonis impersonated Steven in a threat to shoot up a preschool, reports say.

"I felt we were going to have him in our lives forever," said Courtney, who has been in therapy for two years to cope with the trauma. "I never saw an end to it."

Because the threats and images were sent to her home, her workplace and her family members, she couldn't find a safe place to escape the harassment. She lost interest in her favorite hobbies, including reading and sculpting.

"It got to the point where doing any kind of activity was gut-wrenchingly difficult," Courtney said. "I couldn't function at a normal level."

The Allens tried contacting police and say that Kent police were sympathetic, but Zonis' out-of-state location made him difficult to track, Bateman said. Even the FBI got involved.

Zonis reportedly used the "dark web" to cover any link back to him and masked his IP address, limiting the hard evidence that could be used to prosecute him, according to Bateman.

The remaining option was a lawsuit.

"I felt like we had nowhere else to turn to," Courtney said. "We decided finally that we needed to do something about it."

Even after they filed suit in June 2015, the harassment only escalated, Courtney said. Steven changed jobs, partly in an effort evade Zonis's reach. But Zonis impersonated people trying to get him fired and continued to distribute images of Courtney to colleagues and bosses, Courtney said.

He only tapered off his attacks in 2016 when he began to defend himself pro se in court.

The March trial forced the Allens in court to face Zonis, whom Courtney had met in person only briefly while obtaining a protective order against him.

Courtney said it was "terrifying" to face him.

"It certainly was scary," said Steven, who was questioned by Zonis during the trial for 10 to 15 minutes. "He started getting so frustrated and angry."

For his part, Zonis denied all accusations against him and also claimed in court records that Steven Allen stole his identity.

The Allens didn't seek a record-setting jury award. They just wanted someone to believe them.

But when the 12-person King County jury returned the verdict with an $8.9 million award, they felt a tremendous sense of relief, they said.

"I didn't expect to have the jury so behind us, to have actually gotten over any prejudice they might have had against me," Courtney said. "It was really kind of amazing to hear that from the jury."

Bateman said he was "shocked" when the verdict was announced.

"They get it, how devastating this was to Courtney," he said of the jury.

Bateman says most of the revenge porn cases he handles don't even go as far as a lawsuit -- victims just want their photos taken offline.

Some police agencies blame the victims for their images being aired publicly if they seek criminal prosecution. Whether the perpetrator is criminally charged or sued, that leads to public records detailing victims' intimate experiences and possibly images and videos being aired to a jury.

"It takes a lot of courage – it really does," Bateman said.

Zonis, in a court filing, rejected the "farce of a ruling" and claimed he will not be responsible for violating the judgment. He also labeled himself a victim.

Bateman and the Allens know that they will never see the almost $9 million awarded to them. But they hope the verdict brings hope to other victims.

"I'm hoping it's a warning to people who try to cyberstalk or harass or use images against other people," Courtney said. "I'm hoping it's something people will look at and realize, you can't get away with this. This is wrong."

Bateman aims to facilitate a societal shift when it comes to handling sensitive images and hopes cases such as the Allens' will discourage the exploitation of people who share intimate photos and videos.

"You should share whatever images you want as long as you do it thoughtfully," Bateman said. "The bad behavior here is breaching trust and breaching an agreement to keep things private. It is not taking the photographs."

Meanwhile, the Allens are moving on -- and Courtney is finally getting some sleep.

"Our marriage is a lot stronger than it ever was," she said. "Our family has become a lot closer."