Amedure's family then sued the producers of "The Jenny Jones Show", saying they should have known about Schmitz's history of mental illness. In interviews, Jones said the producers told Schmitz that his admirer could be a man, but Schmitz thought that the admirer was a woman. Jones also said that the show didn't want Schmitz to know the outcome of his secret crush. Amedure's family won the initial ruling, and the show was ordered to pay them $25 million. The verdict was later overturned by the Michigan appellate court.