The LAW & LAWYERS Blog

In Topeka, Kansas, a man who agreed to be a sperm donor for a long time friend who wanted to have a baby is now fighting for parental rights to the twins he fathered.

Daryl Hendrix is a gay man who is in his 40s, and says decided that since he is mature and now financially able to support children, he agreed to provide his friend,  Samantha Harrington, with his sperm so that she could become pregnant.

According to Hendrix, Harrington assured him that they did not need a written agreement and that since she is a lawyer and they had been friends for 10 years, he believed her.  He says that on the second try, Harrington became pregnant and called him to say, “Congratulations Daddy.”

When the babies were born in May, 2005, Hendrix says that he got a nasty surprise when he attempted to go see the children at the hospital.  He was turned away and not allowed to see the newborn boy and girl.  He was then informed that sperm donors have no legal rights without a written agreement.  Harrington also filed legal documents asking that Hendrix have no legal rights to the children.

In October, the court upheld the 1994 Kansas law that denies Hendrix parental rights to the children in the absence of a written agreement.

Hendrix is appealing to the state Supreme Court and says that he will take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.

In the ongoing custody battle between divorced couple Britney Spears and Kevin Federline, the court orders seem to just keep on coming.  Unfortunately, very few seem to be in Spears’ favor.

Court documents reveal that Federline has spent $160,000 in attorneys’ fees in the custody battle, and he requested that the court order Spears to pay up.

The paperwork submitted to the court say that Federline is self employed as a performing artist and has no income.

The judge dealt a blow to Spears, which I’m sure she is used to by now, and ordered her to pay $120,000 of her ex-husband’s legal expenses.

A Family Court judge ruled in 2004 that a homeless couple who are addicted to drugs were banned from having any more kids until they were able to take care of the four children they have already produced and had taken away from them.

Stephanie Pendleton and Rodney Evers already have four children, three who were born addicted to cocaine, who are currently placed in other homes.

Pendleton, who is now 38, appealed the Family Court judge’s ruling. The New York Civil Liberties Union filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the appeal saying that the family court judge had overstepped her boundaries and basically ordered the couple to stop having sex, use birth control or get surgically sterilized. The Family Court judge said that she was within her legal boundaries because by law the court can order medical treatment.

A five judge appeals panel overturned the Family Court order which barred the couple from having more children. They found that the family court judge did not have the power to stop or limit procreation. The appeals panel did not overturn the Family Court decision that the couple’s four existing children were neglected and that the couple should have their parental rights taken away.

So Stephanie Pendleton and Rodney Evers are now free to have more children for the foster care system to take care of, if they so choose to procreate once again.

Almost eight years after a raid on a Miami, Florida home, another case involving divorce law, immigration law, and diplomatic relations with Cuba is being decided in a Miami courtroom.

The New York Times reports that Rafael Izquierdo is fighting for his four-year-old daughter. Izquierdo is a farmer in Cuba who allowed the girl’s mother to bring her to the United States in 2005. Several months after their arrival, the girl’s mother attempted suicide and the girl and her half-brother were placed in foster care. The children, who have different fathers, were placed with Joe Cubas, a wealthy real estate developer, in 2006. Cubas is well known for helping Cuban baseball players defect to the United States.

Lawyers for Florida’s Department of Children and Families have argued that Izquierdo is not a fit father because he allowed his daughter to immigrate to the united with her mother, who he knew was unstable. Izquierdo’s lawyers dispute this claim. His lawyer said: “We want to keep the focus on whether or not a dad has the right to have his child. D.C.F. has not proven any neglect by our client Rafael.”

This case reminds us of Elian Gonzalez, who’s Cuban father came to the United States to be reunited with his son. Elian’s mother had drowned during the crossing and he had been placed with relatives in Miami. Anti-Castro immigrants held daily protests at the home where Elian lived and tried to prevent federal marshals from removing him from the house.

Bernard Perlmutter, a family law professor at the University of Miami who has followed both cases, said that “this matter is appropriately being adjudicated in a family court.”

In the Gonzalez case, Elian’s relatives produced what I’ve called the Bill Gates argument: Rather than being reunited with his father, Elian should remain in the United States with his relatives because they have the financial resources to give him a better life. If the court had accepted this argument, Bill Gates would have the right to select any child he wanted to raise as his own because he has greater financial resources than anyone else.

A Burnsville, Minnesota man just had to get married. Following the wedding he was taken directly to jail.

According to Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune writer Nick Coleman, Markieth Hogan was on trial for second-degree assault following an argument in St. Paul where a man was shot in the ankle. Hogan claimed the shot was fired by a mysterious “Mr. K.” Judge John Van de North gave the case to the jury at noon and told Hogan to be ready to reappear in 15 minutes after the jury reached a verdict. The jury went to lunch, returned and deliberated for 90 minutes, reaching a verdict around 3:00 pm.

Hogan, meanwhile, was nowhere to be found. It turns out he had gone to Lake Minnetonka to get married. He finally showed up at 5:15 pm, breathless and wearing a tuxedo. His bride and the wedding party arrived a few minutes later. The judge read Hogan the riot act and made him apologize to the jury for making them wait for two hours.

The bride began to cry when the guilty verdict was read. Hogan was taken in to jail. When he asked if he could kiss the bride, the judge said no.

Judge Van de North said “Mr. Hogan was trying to squeeze a little too much living into a little too short of a time. He must have hoped the jury would have taken a little longer to reach a verdict.”

The judge did make sure Hogan’s rented tux got returned. He had a prison jumpsuit to wear after all.