Match.com alleged rape victim, Carole Markin, sues dating website, comes up short

(CBS/KCBS/AP) LOS ANGELES - Carole Markin, a Hollywood television and film producer who says she was raped by a man she met on Match.com wants the online dating site to stop accepting new members until a sexual predator screening system is installed.

Lawyers for Markin filed a request for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction in Los Angeles Superior Court last month to speed up Match.com's promised implementation of sexual predator screening, reports CBS station KCBS.

Match.com then had the hearing moved to federal court in Los Angeles.

Markin says she met Alan Paul Wurtzel on Match.com in 2010 and after two dates, he raped her in her apartment.

Afterward, she looked Wurtzel up on the internet and found out he had previous sexual battery convictions. Wurtzel's attorney says that they had a "consensual encounter."

In court Monday, U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson called no witnesses before issuing a decision in the case. He said Markin has no standing in federal court and that the remedy should be pursed in state court, reports local station KABC.

The attorney for Match.com believes the site will prevail there, too, and says the dating service has already been investigating additional safeguards independent of the lawsuit, according to KABC.

Attorneys for Markin had said they believe that this is an opportunity to obtain a federal guideline by which to measure sex offender screenings by online dating services, KCBS reports.

Markin, who was initially identified in court papers as "Jane Doe," said she went public with a series of media appearances because, "I want to prevent something like this happening to another woman."

More on Crimesider
April 19, 2011 - Match.com to screen for sex offendersApril 15, 2011 - Woman sues Match.com after alleged sex assault by man she met online