Student Loses Round in Suit Against Father

Saying he was not persuaded that the law allows every person in California over the age of 18 to sue his or her parent for “support, whatever that might mean,” a Los Angeles Superior Court judge Friday denied injunctive relief to a daughter trying to get her father to pay her way through college.

The girl, 18-year-old Jennifer Jones, said outside Judge Irving A. Shimer’s court that she was not discouraged, however, because the judge apparently left the door open for further argument.

Denial of a preliminary injunction pending a full hearing on the matter was the first step in what has been termed a “dadimony” case in the legal publication, Daily Journal. Another hearing is scheduled for May 1.

Statutory ‘Support’

Shimer said in court that he did not have before him any evidence regarding the girl’s need and ability to work or the father’s ability to pay. And he questioned what statutory “support” includes--besides education, shelter and food “maybe it includes vacations, recreational equipment,” he said.

“I am hesitant to conclude that (the law requiring parental responsibility for a child) was intended to say that support then becomes an issue within each family based upon what the child is used to,” the judge added.

Jones, a senior at Westchester High School and the daughter of divorced parents, claims in her suit that her father, Jimmy Jones, stopped paying support when she reached her 18th birthday in January and reneged on a promise to pay college expenses if she got good grades in high school.

Her father is a systems analyst for a Torrance rubber firm and her mother, Carol Jones, works in customer relations for Rockwell International.

Attorney Gloria Allred, who represents the girl, said she will come back to court with further information as to the father’s ability to pay and his daughter’s need. The girl, who says she wants to study journalism, estimated the cost for four years at an Arizona college at $25,000.