Match.com Settles Suit with Agreement to Screen for Sex Offenders

Match.com has agreed to screen for sex offenders to settle a lawsuit by a California screenwriter who says she was sexually assaulted by a man she met through the service.

Carole Markin did not seek monetary damages in the lawsuit, the Los Angeles Times reports. “If I save one woman from getting attacked, then I'm happy,” she told the newspaper.

Markin alleges she was sexually assaulted on a second date with Alan Paul Wurtzel, a Pacific Palisades man she met through Match.com. He had at least six previous sex offense convictions, according to the story, and he pleaded no contest to sexual battery last week.

Legal experts who spoke to the Times said the easy accessibility of sex offender registries could create a duty by online matchmaking services to do at least some minimal screening.

Related coverage:

ABAJournal.com: "Match.com to Start Screening for Sex Offenders"

ABAJournal.com: "Woman Sues Match.com, Wants Screening for Sexual Predators"