Children Who Saw Sex Movie Win Damages

Two Northridge children who watched explicit sex scenes on a rented videotape that was supposed to contain only a Walt Disney cartoon will receive $4,750 each in an out-of-court settlement.

San Fernando Superior Court Judge Fred Rimerman last week approved the settlement reached after an attorney for Susan B. Sanders, whose children saw the videotape, threatened to sue Wherehouse Records, which rented the film, and Walt Disney Productions.

The attorney, Jerry L. Webb, said that Wherehouse and Disney agreed to share the cost of the settlement. But an attorney for Disney said he was unaware of any settlement and did not know if anyone from Disney had even seen the videotape.

An attorney for Wherehouse Records declined comment on the terms of settlement.

According to a psychiatric report filed with the court, the children, ages 6 and 7, suffered from behavioral changes and emotional trauma in the weeks after they viewed the sexually explicit part of the videotape in February, 1985.

Their parents rented the Disney cartoon, Silly Simplicities, from a Wherehouse outlet in Northridge. The family first watched it together, but the parents turned off the videocassette recorder before they spotted the adult movie, the psychiatric report states.

The next day, the children watched the video by themselves, according to the court records. Soon after, “the mother entered the room wondering why the children had not finished the Disney movie” and was “shocked” when she found them watching explicit sex acts, the report states.

The settlement was reached with no determination of who was responsible for the untitled sex movie being added to the end of the cartoon, the family’s attorney said.

Webb and Robert Block, attorney for Wherehouse Records, speculated that a previous home renter might have added the material before returning the videotape to The Wherehouse outlet.

“It’s not the type of thing that Wherehouse or Disney would do,” Block said.

Although there was no lawsuit, the settlement was brought before the court because minors were involved, Webb said. The agreement filed with the court does not specify who will pay the money, but calls for it to be placed in a trust fund, from which it can be withdrawn only by court order or when the children become adults.