Father’s Day in Court

Superior Court for the State of California

For the County of Los Angeles

PATT MORRISON

Plaintiff

vs.

ANNA LEE MORRISON and

the Estate of S. EUGENE MORRISON, deceased

Defendants

COMPLAINT FOR DAMAGES

Defendants were, at all relevant times, parents of Plaintiff.

Plaintiff was, at all relevant times, in parental and custodial care of Defendants.

First Cause of Action: Plaintiff’s deprivation of income

Second Cause of Action: Breach of Defendants’ parental duty precipitating Plaintiff’s deprivation of income

Wherefore, Plaintiff requests judgment against defendants as follows:

1) General damages in the sum of $1,000,000

2) Punitive damages in the sum of $4,000,000

3) Interest as provided by law

4) Costs of suit.

Causes of action:

Defendants, individually and jointly, in the course of rearing Plaintiff from birth to majority, neglected to anticipate the requirements for future livelihood and income of Plaintiff, to the extent of depriving Plaintiff of said livelihood in the manner described below:

Defendants consistently and repeatedly saw to it that Plaintiff was fed, clothed, sheltered and educated.

Defendants provided Plaintiff, for more than 16 years, with a home free of physical, verbal or sexual abuse.

Defendants repeatedly and egregiously treated Plaintiff with love, affection and encouragement.

Defendants deliberately neglected to imbibe large quantities of alcohol and/or drugs at any time of the day and night, either in the family home or away from it.

Defendants persistently failed to argue, scream, hurl breakables, engage in physical assault or other combative conduct with each other or with Plaintiff or Plaintiff’s siblings, instead subjecting Plaintiff to hugs administered, often without warning, in public and in private.

Defendants failed to leave Plaintiff alone and unsupervised for long periods of time in order to indulge in such adult recreation as pool, poker, bowling, dancing, nightclubbing, and/or adultery.

Defendants likewise failed to divorce and thereby involve Plaintiff and her siblings in ugly and protracted custody disputes.

Defendants instead indulged in and encouraged Plaintiff in such wholesome activities as skating, bicycling, reading, drawing, writing, tree-climbing, fishing, Scouting and like pursuits.

Defendants consistently remembered to present Plaintiff with gifts on such customary occasions as birthdays and Christmas.

Defendants, knowing that Plaintiff was a minor and in their complete control and care, nonetheless took every opportunity to listen to, play with, instruct and attend to Plaintiff.

Defendants provided Plaintiff with repeated examples of extreme moral and ethical conduct, to wit, not lying, cheating, stealing, bullying the weak or mocking the infirm.

As a direct and proximate result of the Defendants’ willful conduct as described herein, Plaintiff has suffered and/or continues to suffer loss of means of income and livelihood, to wit:

In contrast to the scores of writers, performers and other figures, public and private, whose accounts of childhood suffering, victimhood and abuse have earned them millions of dollars in income and the high visibility that accrues from such revelations, Plaintiff has been unable, by virtue of the negligently benign upbringing described supra, to write a best-selling, tell-all book detailing abuse and neglect at the hands of her parents.

Plaintiff has additionally suffered a substantial loss of income by not being able to sell rights to said bestseller as a Movie of the Week or a prime-time television series.

For want of aforementioned book and/or movie or television deals, Plaintiff has suffered collateral financial loss and emotional frustration by not being invited to appear on such talk shows as Oprah Winfrey and Jerry Springer.

Plaintiff has demonstrated good faith in subjecting herself to hypnosis and related recovered-memory treatments to summon any details of her upbringing that could be marketable, all to no avail.

Plaintiff’s Prayer for Relief:

Amen. The process server and I wish you a happy Father’s Day.

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Patt Morrison’s column appears Fridays. Her e-mail address is patt.morrison@latimes.com