LeBron To Washington Lawyer: "You're Not My Dad"
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That's not an exact quote, but it is the gist of what LeBron James and his mother, Gloria, intended when they filed papers in federal court Monday to dismiss a lawsuit from Leicester Stovell, who claims he is LeBron's biological father.
From CNN:
A filing on behalf of basketball superstar LeBron James dismisses as "rank speculation" claims by a Washington lawyer that he is the athlete's biological father, saying the man has "delusions" about alleged family ties...
The 14-page document said Stovell had completely failed to prove any of the facts alleged in his June 23 complaint. And they said he was motivated only by fame and money, calling Stovell's actions a "fanciful hope for celebrity."
Stovell's story is that he met Gloria in a Washington bar in 1984, when she was 15 or 16 years old and he was 29. They had sex, according to him, and months later Gloria called him, saying she was pregnant. She later told him she was going to name the child "LeBron."
This was the basis of his lawsuit against LeBron in June, which seeks unspecified millions of dollars in damages.
Stovell claims LeBron and his family committed fraud and misrepresentation by falsifying a DNA test that said Stovell wasn't the father.
Monday's rebuttal, crafted by LeBron's lawyers, Frederick Nance and John Burlingame, mocks Stovell and calls his story "rank speculation."
"Stovell's claims for millions of dollars from his putative son and Gloria James are based upon rank speculation," said the court filing, "that a man who claims that as a 29-year-old lawyer he got a 15-year-old girl pregnant during a one-night stand and who never contributed a penny in child support would earn millions in commercial endorsements by crawling out of the woodwork after the child he never gave a thought to became an NBA star."
Given the age difference between Stovell and Gloria James at the time of conception, not to mention the fact that Stovell previously filed a sketchy lawsuit against the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC paid Stovell $230,000 to make allegations of "racial discrimination" go away), there's a fair amount of skepticism when it comes to Stovell's claims.
Don't expect any "father"-son reunions anytime soon.
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