Couple Sue TV Station Over Show on Sham Nuptials
When Ruben Flores and his bride Gloria exchanged wedding vows on Feb. 14, 1985, they knew cameras from KCOP-TV, Channel 13, news were chronicling the romantic moment for a special Valentine’s Day segment.
But what the couple apparently did not know was that the footage would be rebroadcast more than a year later as part of the television station’s “expose” on sham marriages involving illegal aliens.
The couple, who now live in San Francisco, sued the station in Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday for $1 million, claiming, among other things, that they have been libeled and that their privacy has been invaded.
The couple’s attorney, William Imperial, said Ruben Flores, 37, has lived legally in the United States for more than two decades. His wife is American-born.
KCOP station manager Rick Feldman said the lawsuit came as a surprise.
“The first I heard of the lawsuit was (Thursday),” Feldman said. “From our end, we do a million stories every day. . . . The last I knew our lawyer was talking to their lawyer.”
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