Jennifer Aniston Loses Jury Request

By Stephen M. Silverman

Tuesday June 25, 2002 11:00 AM EDT

Jennifer Aniston's lawsuit against two adult-magazine publishers, Man's World Publications and Crescent Publishing Group, will proceed to trial beginning July 2 without a jury deciding the case, Los Angeles U.S. District Judge Ronald S. Lew ruled on Monday, according to the Associated Press. The "Friends" star, 33, claims in her suit, initially filed in August 2000, that the publishers, whose titles include Celebrity Skin and High Society magazines, enlisted a photographer with a telephoto lens to scale a neighbor's wall to snap photos of her sunbathing topless in her backyard. The pictures were reportedly snapped in February 1999 and appeared in the aforementioned magazines later that year. In her legal papers, Aniston, who is expected to testify at the trial, says the text accompanying the published photo, which described her as "raunchy," is "highly offensive and objectionable," reports the AP. Aniston's lawsuit contains claims of misappropriation of the right of publicity and constructive trust, according to legal documents. She seeks punitive damages and already has received judgments and settled claims with other American and European magazines that published the photo, says the AP. Judge Lew decided, however, that her lawyers had not properly made a jury demand under California law at the time she originally filed her suit. The case will therefore be decided by the jurist.