Author: Judith G. McMullen

Today, Law.com reports on a New Jersey appellate court’s decision in Bayne v. Johnson, which involved a palimony claim by a woman who had been a party in a bizarre triangular relationship for almost twenty years.  According to the article, Fiona Bayne, then a 25-year-old flight attendant with British Airways, began a romance with 41-year-old Earl Johnson in 1981. Earl Johnson was married at that time to Carolyn Johnson, a wealthy 61-year-old woman with a string of six failed marriages.  (Earl had three previous marriages when he married Carolyn.)  The marriage was reportedly one of convenience entered into by Carolyn in 1978 so that her three estranged children would not be able to take control of her financial affairs.  As the beneficiary of a trust valued at $11 million, Carolyn had plenty to lose financially if her children had her declared incompetent and took over control of her money as she feared.  Although the couple reportedly agreed to pursue separate lives, Carolyn supported Earl in a lavish lifestyle through the years.

Bayne, who was living in an apartment in the Bahamas provided by Earl (and paid for with his wife’s money), did not know about Earl’s marriage for the first few years of the relationship.  Once she found out, however, she remained in the relationship.  Bayne, Earl, and Carolyn moved to various locations to pursue Earl’s business ventures with Carolyn bankrolling both the business ventures and the lavish lifestyle enjoyed by the three.   Continue reading “Love, Loss, and Palimony”

It is sad when a family member dies, and even sadder when the aftermath of the death brings feuding and court actions between loved ones.  The parents and fiancée of Kevin Prior, a firefighter killed in the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center, are embroiled in such a dispute over the $37,600 a year in benefits payable to survivors under Mr. Prior’s pension plan. A 2003 New York State law allowed “domestic partners,” as well as parents and spouses, to collect the pension benefits of firefighters and policemen killed on 9/11.  The definition of domestic partner is someone who showed either “unilateral dependence or mutual interdependence” with the deceased based upon a court’s analysis of any relevant factors such as living arrangements, budgeting, length and seriousness of the relationship, and intent to marry.  In the case of Mr. Prior’s survivors, the two sides offer completely different versions of the reality that constituted Mr. Prior’s personal relationships.

The fiancée, Doreen Noone, claims that the two lived together for eight months during the 1990s and that Mr. Prior paid most of her bills.  She also claims that she spent four or five nights a week with him in his parents’ basement, where he later moved, returning to her own parents’ house only when he was on duty at the firehouse.  Prior’s parent flatly deny her account, insisting that none of their boys were allowed to “have girls overnight” in the house.  Although they concede that their son had paid approximately $7,000 of Noone’s bills over a three-year period, the Priors contend that the couple did not share budgeting.  “All that happened was they had plans for a wedding, and those plans were interrupted,” they say.  Mr. Prior’s best friend, Sgt. Edward Wheeler (who is now married to Ms. Noone), supports Ms. Noone’s version of the relationship.

Continue reading “Grieving Loved Ones at War Over a Pension”

In the past few years, many states have passed legislation allowing parents of newborns to drop their infants off at a designated safe place, no questions asked. These laws are intended to prevent the tragedy of unwanted newborns that have been literally left to die in dumpsters, public toilets, and similar places, usually by panicked teenage parents. Nebraska is the most recent state to pass such a law, but whether by negligence or design, the Nebraska statute did not specify a maximum age of a child who could be left at a safe place without legal repercussions to the parents. In a turn of events that would be comical if it weren’t so sad, Nebraska has seen a parade of 17 different children dropped off at designated hospitals: none of them have been infants, and most have been adolescents. Since Nebraska’s legislature is part-time and does not resume session until January, there may be more drop-offs before the law can be amended.

What’s going on here, and what can we learn from it? Continue reading “Lessons from Nebraska’s Struggle With an Abandoned Baby Law”