Woman Who Was Assaulted Settles Match.com Lawsuit

LOS ANGELES – A woman who sued Match.com after being sexually assaulted by a man she met on the dating website settled her lawsuit on Tuesday when she saw proof that the site screenings its members for sexual predators.

Carole Markin sued the website when she found out her attacker had been convicted of sexual battery. She did not seek monetary damages in her lawsuit, just a court order requiring the site to check its members' backgrounds to weed out convicted sex offenders.

"If I save one woman from being attacked, I'm happy," Markin said. "I went into this lawsuit to protect other people, and it worked."

Robert Platt, an attorney for the site, said Match.com has begun checking its members against state and federal sex-offender databases.

Last week Alan Wurtzel, 67, pleaded no contest to assaulting Markin. He could face a year in jail, five years of probation and a lifetime registration as a sex offender when he is sentenced Sept. 19.

Prosecutors said that on their second date last year, Wurtzel drove Markin to her home and followed her inside where he sexually assaulted her while holding her down.