Nixzmary Brown was the seven-year-old girl whose grim fate made New York City headlines this winter: she was allegedly tortured, bound and eventually beaten to death by her stepfather while her mother stood by. In the latest development, Nixzmary’s biological father, Abdurrahman Mian, who had lost touch with her mother around the time of the child’s birth and never laid eyes on his daughter during her lifetime, has surfaced with plans to file legal papers asking to be named administrator of the girl’s estate, in preference to her maternal grandmother. The mother’s relatives contend that his newfound manifestation of paternal sentiment may relate to the likelihood that Nixzmary’s estate could be worth millions pending the outcome of expected wrongful-death lawsuits against public agencies that failed to protect her. (Lorena Mongelli and Alex Ginsberg, “He Is the Birth Dad Nixzmary Never Knew”, New York Post, Mar. 17). For another father who rediscovered the love of his child once a multimillion dollar judgment was possible, see Jul. 18, 2005.
Posts Tagged ‘family law’
“Roe” for men?
Update: judge lifts Letterman restraining order
New Mexico state judge Daniel Sanchez last Tuesday agreed to a request by David Letterman’s lawyers to lift a restraining order previously entered on behalf of a Santa Fe woman who had accused the TV host “of using special code words such as ‘Oprah’ to woo her into marriage” (see Dec. 22, Dec. 23) (Stephen M. Silverman, “‘Absurd’ Letterman Restraining Order Tossed”, People, Dec. 28). Some comments: Wendy McElroy, Third Edge of the Sword, Meryl Yourish, In the Lion’s Den.
“Infant discovered in barn, Child Protective Services launch probe”
This just in:
Bethlehem, Judea — Authorities were today alerted by a concerned citizen who noticed a family living in a barn. Upon arrival, Family Protective Service personnel, accompanied by police, took into protective care an infant child named Jesus, who had been wrapped in strips of cloth and placed in a feeding trough by his 14-year old mother, Mary of Nazareth.
During the confrontation, a man identified as Joseph, also of Nazareth, attempted to stop the social workers…
Also being held for questioning are three foreigners who allege to be wise men from an eastern country. The INS and Homeland Security officials are seeking information about these who may be in the country illegally. A source with the INS states that they had no passports, but were in possession of gold and other possibly illegal substances…The chemical substances in their possession will be tested.
Restraining Letterman, frivolously
From “Vic” in the Volokh comments, on the furor over that temporary restraining order against David Letterman [typos cleaned up]:
I think this illustrates the problem with trying to enumerate how many lawsuits are frivolous.
Most attempts at enumerating the amount of frivolous lawsuits have focused on asking judges about their perception of the number of frivolous lawsuits that pass through their corthouse. And the judges say: a trivial amount. I have always felt that the reason this number is said to be trivial is that the judge who allows a garbage lawsuit to go to trial, when he/she could have stopped it from proceeding further, is not going to say: Yeah, it was frivolous, but I didn’t want to throw it out when I could have.
Also David Kopel examines the question of whether it’s now illegal for Letterman to possess a gun (Volokh, Dec. 22). Update Jan. 2 (judge lifts order).
Zellweger and Chesney marriage annulled
As injustices go, it’s a tiny one. But the everyday citizenry of California has to wait six months after a separation for a divorce decree. Renee Zellweger got around this law by filing for an annulment of her short marriage to Kenny Chesney. Except that annulments are only available on fairly limited grounds. Zellweger plead fraud in her annulment filing—and admitted in a press release within days that there wasn’t any actual fraud, but that she had made the allegation out of convenience. It’s not often that a major celebrity admits committing perjury, and it’s even rarer that a court rewards the admitted perjury with the sought-after relief. But that’s what happened here, and, as of December 20, Zellweger has an annulment that wouldn’t be available to the hoi polloi.
Won’t testify on domestic violence? Jail her
In San Mateo, Calif., Katina Britt was nearly jailed a few days ago for her refusal to testify against the ex-boyfriend who allegedly battered her. (He was convicted anyway and the charges were dropped.) Under present California law, sexual assault victims cannot be jailed for refusing to testify against their attackers, but domestic violence victims can. Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said the court order compelling Britt to testify was “for her own protection”. (Malaika Fraley, “Ultimatum in abuse case: Testify or go to jail”, San Mateo County Times, Dec. 10; Michelle Durand, “Assemblyman to back abuse testimony bill”, San Mateo Daily Journal, Dec. 20; more coverage via Google News). Wendy McElroy wonders: “How has the issue of DV drifted from its early roots of empowering ‘victims’ and encouraging their voices toward imprisoning them and coercing their testimony?” (“Don’t jail domestic violence victims”, Enter Stage Right, Dec. 19).
“Taking Combat Out of Custody”
D’ya think? “Divorce lawyers tangled in messy custody disputes should refrain from smashing the other side to bits.” (Tresa Baldas, National Law Journal, Nov. 30).
Ballot propositions today
Over at Point of Law, I’ve been collecting links on California’s Prop 79 (empower trial lawyers to sue over drug prices, among other provisions) and Washington’s I-330 (med-mal). Also, Virginia Postrel reminds Texans to vote no on Proposition 2, which is billed as banning gay marriage and in fact, like some tricky predecessors in other states (see Mar. 20, etc.), would probably extend much further than that.
Squabbling Oz opera companies
They’ve been fighting over a A$1.8 million bequest left by the late Edith Melva Thompson, with the result that at least a third of the sum is expected to be consumed in legal fees. (Katrina Strickland, “Lawyers the winners in bequest to opera”, The Australian, Oct. 27).