Octomom Nadya Suleman sued by celeb lawyer Gloria Allred for exploiting her babies.
This goofy lawsuit makes me ashamed of the legal profession -- but I should add that it's also completely unconnected with the job, ethical duties, and social role of lawyers as I learned it in law school and in my career.
It also is an attack on our First Amendment freedoms -- it claims that if your parenting is in the news for some reason -- as it unfortunately often is for so many people -- you can't have the news media come to your home and show you doing your parenting job without enrolling your kids in the actors union?
As for all the other things that are wrong with it, I couldn't say it better than my good friend and colleague, and now guest-blogger,
Doug Sanderson, who practices family law, real estate and business law with
McCandlish & Lillard in Fairfax, Virginia:
-----
Great move by Ms. Allred and her "client," Paul Petersen. (Note:
sarcasm.) As if -- putting aside whether the questions she raises merit discussion in some forum -- either of them ought to be found to have standing to bring a claim like this.
This kind of attack really scares me, simply in my capacity as member of society. Sure, OctoMom comes off to me as a few cards short of a full deck, so to speak. That means she can be subjected to defending her decisions to STRANGERS, in Court??? OK, where do we draw the line. I don't like the way my neighbor makes his kids go to church every morning because it makes them more tired for school and this will hurt society. I think I'll sue him. Or: I think the way that other neighbor lets his kids play in the street endangers them when cars come by. I think I'll sue him, too. In fact, I'll sue everyone whose approaches to child-raising are different from mine, because mine are "normal" and theirs aren't, and varying from the mainstream makes one subject to court proceedings and the obligation to defend oneself or one loses rights. This is our country today?
Freedom of speech, and thinking one is doing something beneficial for society by raising an issue of concern, are great. But forcing a person to defend herself in Court simply for the act of being out of the mainstream is far beyond that, and is itself an abuse that the courts should not tolerate. I do hope this case is tossed, and that Gloria is ordered to pay Suleman's costs! But that doesn't mean that governmental interests shouldn't monitor these 14 kids' wellbeing, if and as provided by statutory laws and any properly enacted regulations.
Gloria, give me a break!
-- -- --
Douglas J. SandersonMcCandlish & Lillard, P.C.11350 Random Hills Road, Suite 500
Fairfax, Virginia 22030-7429
Telephone: (703) 934-1122
