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Conference turris::womannotes-v1

Title:	ARCHIVE-- Topics of Interest to Women, Volume 1 --ARCHIVE
Notice:	V1 is closed. TURRIS::WOMANNOTES-V5 is open.
Moderator:	REGENT::BROOMHEAD

Created:	Thu Jan 30 1986
Last Modified:	Fri Jun 30 1995
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	873
Total number of notes:	22329

524.0. "Husband wins royalties from battered wife's book" by OPHION::KARLTON (Phil Karlton, Western Software Lab) Wed Oct 21 1987 20:37

[I find it hard to even complete a sentence when I try to express my feelings
about the following article. I have tried several times, and I suppose I will
have to wait until I calm down. -- PK]

By Mary McGrory

Charlotte Fedders, who was battered by her husband for 18 years, got another
black eye last week from the courts.

A domestic relations master made a ruling that, if allowed to stand, could
become a landmark of male chauvinist thinking, and on official invitation to
wife-beaters to feel sorry for themselves.

Mrs. Fedders is the country's most celebrated victim of spouse abuse. Her
husband was a high official of the Reagan administration, and her disclosures
caused acute embarrassment to the family-oriented White House.

Mrs. Fedders has written, with collaborator Laura Elliott, a book about her
life as a punching bag for a husband who admits to being neurotic but blames
her for baiting him. It is called "Shattered Dreams" and is being published by
Harper & Row this week. John Fedders, onetime chief law enforcement officer of
the Securities and Excahnge Commission, went to court claiming that the book
was about him, and that he was therefore entitled to share in the royalties.

Amazingly, the master who heard the case, John S. McInerney, agreed with him.

Fedders is indisputably the "without whom this book never could have been
written" of many prefaces. If he had not beaten his wife, she would not have
been able to write "Shattered Dreams." But the master's decision that John
Fedders should be awarded 25 percent of the royalties goes beyond the
unthinkable to the unbelievable.

By that standard, Adolf Hitler, had he lived, should have had a share in the
proceeds from "The Diary of Anne Frank," the World War II memoir about a Dutch
girl whose family was sheltered by a Dutch Christian family for 25 months. If
Hitler had not ordered the savage persecution of Jews, she would not have had
the material for her masterpiece.

The master was apparently much struck by the appearance of John Fedders as a
witness. He told Mrs. Fedder's lawyer, Bryan Renehan, that Fedders was
"exceptionally well-prepared."

Feminist groups, who are almost beside themselves over the decision, feel that
while it is a financial setback for Charlotte Fedders, whose alimony payments
were also reduced, it will advance their 15-year-old efforts to rouse the
country on the issue of widespread wife abuse. According to the National
Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 3 million to 4 million women are battered
every year in the United States, one every 15 seconds.

Fedders, who once earned $160,000 as a lawyer with the blue-chip firm of
Arnold and Porter, does not deny he beat his wife. When she was pregnant with
the first of their five sons, he punched her in the stomach. Another time,
when he found her in violation of his strict rule of no shoes in the house, he
grabbed her by the hair and tried to through her over a banister in the sight
of the children.

But, says McInerney, it was half her fault. Many battered wives already feel
that way, which is why they often stick it out so long.

Mrs. Fedders rose up on hearing Ronald Reagon's 1984 Statue of the Union
address, in which he promised a drive against "horrible crimes like sexual
abuse and family violence." She wrote a letter that detailed her life of
trying to stay alive although married. She never mailed it, but her sister gave
a copy to then-White House counsel Fred Fielding. The Wall Street Journal
published the story and on Feb. 27, 1985, John Fwedders resigned form the SEC.

Since then, Charlotte Fedders has been bringing up her children on her own.
They all dig out at dawn every Thursday to distribute the Potomac Almanac,
a weekly newspaper. She also has been earning $5 an hour working in a flower
shop.

In a bizarre moment of truth, John Fedders complained to the court that "the
problem is that by hitting her, I gave her control over me."

He want to make her pay for this outrageous reversal. the court, through
McInerney, says she should. She will appeal.

[copied without permission from 21 October 1987, San Jose Mercury News]

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
524.1	Will Khomeni get money if hostages write a book??	QBUS::FINK	Time for a Dandelion Break!!	`Wed Oct 21 1987 21:03`	12
	Ah, yes. Our illustrious court system is working again. Once again showing that if you wants rights, you must be the perpetrator of a crime, not the victim. :-( What can I say, other than it is a travesty of justice. Not only did she suffer the abuse, now she has to pay the person (a term I use loosely), who abused her! Only in America. -Rich
524.2	Precedent is against this	QUARK::LIONEL	Let the memory live again	`Wed Oct 21 1987 23:36`	11
	Interesting. Some states have passed laws preventing criminals from reaping rewards from their crimes via royalties on books, movies, etc. These are sometimes called "Son of Sam" laws, where that infamous killer was going to get a lot of money for the rights to a movie made about him. It seems to me that decisions like the one in .0 should be overturned based on the precedent of the other laws, assuming they are enforced in the state. Steve
524.3		AKOV11::BOYAJIAN	The Dread Pirate Roberts	`Thu Oct 22 1987 02:23`	11
	re:.2 The problem with that is that nowhere in the article (I'm other- wsie unfamiliar with the case) does it say that Fedders was actually brought to trial and convicted of any crime, so the "Son of Sam" laws don't apply. Personally, I find the whole situation totally ludicrous. Did I slip into the Twilight Zone while I slept this evening? --- jerry
524.4	Bring him to trial	CSC32::JOHNS	Yes, I am pregnant :-)	`Thu Oct 22 1987 15:01`	8
	Looks like she may have to bring him to trial. Now that he has admitted the beatings, conviction should be a little easier, even if he doesn't get a jail sentence. Of course, any time a victim does anything against her attacker, then she has to face the fear that it will make him angrier and that he will take it out on her even worse. Carol
524.5	Can't have it both ways...	SSDEVO::YOUNGER	There are no misteakes	`Thu Oct 22 1987 21:35`	12
	In the eyes of the law, at a given time, he is either innocent or guilty of beating his wife. If he is innocent, then he obviously isn't the inspiration for the book. She must of made it up or something. :^\|. If he is guilty, he falls under the "Son of Sam" laws, and cannot collect royalties. I agree. This is ludicrous. Elizabeth
524.6	If only...	QUARK::LIONEL	Noter Of Unusual Size	`Thu Oct 22 1987 23:06`	4
	Unfortunately, what happens in our courts rarely touches base with reality or rationality. Steve
524.7	Another one for the lawbooks...	INDEBT::TAUBENFELD	Almighty SET	`Fri Oct 23 1987 17:31`	23
	If the victims can't make money, and the criminal can't make money, and the family of the victims can't make money, then the family of the criminal should! Hopefully the judge will dismiss this. From Fortune, October 26, 1987 Only in America (cont'd) CANTON,OHIO- A Stark County judge is considering whether to dismiss a wrongful death lawsuit that claims a ... shooting spree in a McDonald's restaurant was partly caused by an overdose of Chicken McNuggets. Judge James R. Unger heard arguments Thursday in the $5-million lawsuit filed by ... Etna Huberty, whose husband, James, killed 21 people and injured 19 others at a McDonald's ... before he was shot and killed. Attorneys for McDonald's ... asked Unger to dismiss Mrs. Huberty's claim that the chemical monosodium glutamate, used in foods as a flavor intensifier, was in Chicken Mc Nuggets her husband ate and reacted with lead and cadminium that built up in her husband's system ..., triggering his violent behavior... The McDonald's brief ... said ... McDonald's served 4.1 billion McNuggets in the U.S. from January to July of 1984 "without incident of violence..."
524.8	Court of Law, not Court of Justice...	YODA::BARANSKI	Law?!? Hell! Give me Justice!	`Mon Oct 26 1987 09:50`	0
524.9	re .0	ARMORY::CHARBONND	Maybe, baby, the gypsy lied	`Mon Oct 26 1987 11:56`	2
	Somebody ought to batter the judge. Several times. Give him some perspective. Who nominated him to the bench anyway ?
524.10	the judge doesn't get to pick the question he's supposed to answer	YODA::BARANSKI	Law?!? Hell! Give me Justice!	`Mon Oct 26 1987 13:00`	10
	RE: -.1 Now, now... The problem may be, like in some of the claims against Borke, that the judge in the case is very narrowly constrained by law in the decision he can make. The problem is the constraint of the animate by the inanimate. Jim.
524.11	It's outrageous!	EDUHCI::WARREN		`Tue Oct 27 1987 14:53`	4
	Maybe she could not publish the book, change the names to protect the guilty and bring it out again as a "novel."
524.12		ARMORY::CHARBONND	Maybe, baby, the gypsy lied	`Wed Oct 28 1987 11:59`	2
	RE .10 In view of your personal name you are being either inconsistent, sarcastic, or fascetious. Which ?
524.13	SYS$VACCUUM:	YODA::BARANSKI	Law?!? Hell! Give me Justice!	`Wed Oct 28 1987 13:48`	11
	RE: .12 "RE .10 In view of your personal name you are being either inconsistent, sarcastic, or fascetious. Which ?" I don't think I'm being either. I'm saying that's the way the system works, and it sucks... Jim.
524.14	Why hasn't she brought HIM to trial ?	BETA::EARLY	Bob_the_Hiker	`Mon Nov 02 1987 12:19`	21
	re: .0 Your outrage reminds me of the movie (which I finally got to see a couple of weeks ago) called : "STAR CHAMBER", in which (for those unfamiliar) the "presiding judges" formed a vigilante committee to "kill" those who seemde to be "obviously gulity", but got off on a "technicality" of law. As mentioned previously, it seems that the judge is constrained by precedent and law, and not by what "Seems logical and right". Perhaps someday, it will become more dangerous to be a criminal than a victim. One quick question that I haven't seen asked yet: Since the man is by self admission guilty, why hasn't Ms. whates-her-name brought him to trial for being abusive ? There's one other small detail, and that is: Everyone assume the book is 100% factual, right ? Bob
524.15	Why Hasn' The Stat Bought Him To Trial	BMT::RIZZO	Carol Rizzo	`Tue Nov 03 1987 23:18`	14
	I always thought that assault was a criminal offense that was prosecuted by the state, not the individual. We don't seem to have all the facts here. Did she refuse to testify against her husband? Also it is my understanding that, like rape, one cannot decide after a period of more than a few hours, perhaps even a day, to go to the police and lodge a complaint as there is an element of immediacy that the prosecutors seem to require in order to eliminate the prospect of outside influences being brought up in court. BTW can someone supply the Judges' name? Just in case he gets nominated to the Supreme Court? Carol
524.16	It was a "domestic relations master" ???	WCSM::PURMAL	Oh, the thinks you can think!	`Wed Nov 04 1987 11:40`	20
	The San Jose Mercury carried a story on this subject Thursday October 29, 1987. The paper says: "... a Maryland divorce-court official has ordered a final divorce settlement that awarded her ex-husband half the value of the couple's $425,000 suburban house; a one-third reduction in his alimony payment to $500 a month; and, most important 25 percent of the proceeds of "Shattered Dreams"." Later on it says: "In allowing John Fedders to reap financial gain from an account of his abusive behavior, Montgomery County (MD) domestic relations master John S. McInerney reasoned that though her ex-husband admitted beating her, Charlotte Fedders shared responsibility for her divorce." The article doesn't mention the judge who accepted the settlement that was handed down. ASP