Rebecca Willis - A love of dirty dancing got 56-year old Rebecca Willis banned from the Marshall, NC community center, but the ACLU won her a $275,000 settlement.
Seems Rebecca Willis couldn’t resist wearing short skirts that revealed her underwear while she danced in front of her small town neighbors.
According to court documents, she was accused of simulating sex with her partner while wearing a skirt so short it exposed her underwear.
Willis described her dance style as ”exuberant” in her lawsuit, but claimed that being banned from the Marshall Depot community center violated her constitutional right to dirty dancing.
The real debate was that if her 14th Amendment rights were violated because she was banned from a public area in town.
It took an eight-year court battle funded by the ACLU before a court decided this was in fact the case.
Rebecca said in a statement that the settlement sends a message that the town should allow for free expression. ”I am very happy with this settlement and relieved that the lawsuit is finally over,” she said.
Larry Leake, the attorney for the town of Marshall, told the town board that the Interlocal Risk Financing Fund of North Carolina, a governmental risk sharing pool administered by the North Carolina League of Municipalities, forced the issue, agreeing to pay Willis $275,000.
However, Willis will not be able to patronize the depot, Leake said, which had been one of her demands since filing suit, so she’ll have to keep her dirty dancing to herself. Now that she’s 64, that’s probably a good idea.
And that’s the latest news on the dirty dancing grandma, Rebecca Willis.
Tags: aclu, dirty dancing, dirty dancing lawsuit, free speech, lawsuit, marshall nc, rebecca willis, rebecca willis dirty dancing