LOS ANGELES — Eric Dane and Rebecca Gayheart have filed a lawsuit against Gawker.com, accusing the Web site of refusing to comply with a cease and desist request related to their now infamous non-sex tape.
In the suit, which was filed Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, the couple accuses Gawker of "maliciously" posting the video, which shows the couple romping around naked inside their home with former beauty queen Kari Ann Peniche.
Peniche has claimed that the tape surfaced after her "Celebrity Rehab" roommate, country singer Mindy McCready, stole her computer hard drive and leaked the footage.
Dane and Gayheart are seeking more than $1 million in damages, in addition to ensuring that the video is pulled from various Web sites that have since obtained the footage.
The couple's attorney, Marty Singer, threatened legal action soon after the video first surfaced in August.
"This is simply a private, consensual moment involving a married couple, shot several years ago, which was never intended to be seen by the public," Singer said in a statement at the time. "Although the participants are nude, the tape is not a 'sex tape.' It is a private tape made for only my clients' personal use, and nobody has the right to exploit it. If anyone exploits the tape, they will be violating my clients' rights and will be exposed to significant liability."
Gawker publisher Nick Denton responded to the lawsuit by posting a message Wednesday on his Twitter page.
"To quote the great Marty Singer — Eric Dane's lawyer — if you don't want a sex tape on the internet, 'don't make one!' " he wrote.