Girl Sues ABC For Airing Footage Of Stepfather Abusing Her On "Primetime"

ELIZABETHTOWN, N.Y. — A woman who was shown on an ABC News program being beaten by her stepfather sued the network Wednesday, claiming negligence and recklessness.

The lawsuit addresses video footage included in a "Primetime" segment called "Stepfamilies in Crisis" that aired in 2006 and shows Kyle Nelson, then 15, being held down, berated and punched.

The footage was taken from hundreds of hours captured at the home several years before the show was aired. Viewers responded with thousands of e-mails questioning why ABC didn't step in to stop or report the abuse.

ABC responded at the time with this statement on its Web site: "While we felt the incident in question was disturbing, it was the only scene of physical punishment in the hundreds of hours of footage that ABC News reviewed."

The stepfather, Joe Nelson, acknowledged on tape that he had struck Kyle.

The suit was filed by Nelson, now 20, in Essex County Court and names ABC News; its parent corporation, the Walt Disney Company; ABC's president, David Weston; news anchor Diane Sawyer; producer David Sloan; and three psychologists associated with the "Primetime" special.

Attorney Matthew Norfolk, who filed the suit on Nelson's behalf, said the young woman suffers lasting effects from the abuse and ABC's airing of it. He said she moved out of the abusive household to live with her maternal grandparents before the show aired.

The lawsuit seeks punitive damages; a permanent injunction against ABC showing the film of the abuse again; and a judgment compelling ABC to fulfill its promises to provide the woman with counseling, Norfolk said.

"We maintain that a situation of continual, ongoing child abuse could have been stopped by ABC," Norfolk told the Plattsburgh Press-Republican.

Paige Capossela, a spokeswoman for ABC News, said the network hadn't been served with any lawsuit as of Wednesday evening and had no comment.

The lawsuit requests damages on eight claims relating to the "Primetime" segment, including failure to rescue the girl; promotion of a hostile, hazardous, unsafe and abusive atmosphere; invasion of privacy; failure to report abuse; and publication of the girl's condition and mental-health status.

Comments

[SFreeborn]

When I was a teenager in the late 60's, I was in foster care. For a time, when I was waiting for a foster home, and that took months, I was kept in a receiving home. That's a place courts send children awaiting disposition of their cases in juvenile court.

While I was there I regularly helped to bathe the smaller children. I saw injuries that I was unprepared to see. I saw cigarette burns, hair that was missing from being pulled out, bones that had been allowed to heal without proper setting. I saw children that shivered with fear and who tried awfully hard to be liked but were afraid to be touched. I heard alot of stuttering in fear. I saw and heard a lot of crying by little tiny children who loved their parents even though their parents had done these awful things to them.

I shared a room with a 15-year-old girl who was six months pregnant, by her own father. My own troubles seemed pretty small compared to how I felt about what I saw in those children.

And yet, I had been molested by two out of three of my uncles and by a babysitter my mother hired to watch my sisters and I when I was in first grade. All of that happened before I was 9 years old.

People who talk about "whining" have no idea, they are mean spirited idealogues who have no sense of exactly how defenseless children are taken advantage of by ruthless and ignorant people in their lives.

None of the bad things that were done to me as a child were done by a stranger. At school, I always wondered why they were warning us about being approached by strangers. It was at home that I wasn't safe.

So I have not what whit of sympathy for anyone in ABC who could watch an abusive atmosphere and do nothing to protect the children in it.

TexasProgressive3 I think you are particularly idiotic in what you have to say. You don't know squat about what happens to kids. People don't just spank them; they punch, kick, throw, backhand, burn, cut, scar, rape, sodomize and otherwise treat children like they don't count. It takes alot of work to get over being the object of that kind of abuse. I know because of what I saw as a teenager and the work I had to do to live with what I learned about inhumanity at the hands of adults when I was a tiny girl.

[SFreeborn]

Texas Progressive, so sorry, I was replying actually to SunshinePuppies, who apparently is more troubled than they realize...

[TexasProgressive3]

I did the same thing below SFreeborn. I clicked on the wrong reply button.

[Earl]

Hey! I thought bad things didn't happen in the Magic Kingdom!

[TexasProgressive3]

"I'm so sick and tired of this knee-jerk holier-than-thou "protect the children" bullshit."

Normally, I would agree with you. Every phony baloney trying to get something uses the "think of the children" bullshit line. But there's a big difference in spanking a child and holding them down and punching them. Not to mention the psychological abuse that usually accompanies that kind of behavior. You say your abuse was good for you? I look at this post and the ones in your profile. You definitely have anger issues. Maybe we could all chip in for some treatment for you?

[SunshinePuppies]

I'm so sick and tired of this knee-jerk holier-than-thou "protect the children" bullshit. I have no idea what the story is behind this beating. I doubt anyone here does. But do you really want the cavalry to ride in everytime a kid gets hit? How many perfectly good families would that destroy in the name of protecting children? It would have torn my life apart. In many families you are weighing an occasional smack across the face against the only family the kid has known and loved and trusted their whole lives. And you'd prefer to rip them from that family.

In my case, I had a great childhood. My parents were not abusive in any way. But there was a single incident when I was bad. My father physically disciplined me far beyond a spanking. I never did that bad thing again (thankfully). If a camera saw me taking my lumps for that, I'm sure all of you would have liked my father imprisoned and me off to a foster home to be raised by strangers. After something like that I'm sure I'd be real well adjusted today .

It reminds me of my good friend who was never abused but was spanked. She said "I'd never spank my kid". My response "you turned out great? and despise violence? kind of ironic isn't it?"...(ba­ck then I didn't know the true meaning of ironic).

And while you're at it, stop telling everyone that they are fucked up and need counseling. That is the only reason they need counseling­...telling them they need it.

20yo client: "I'm sad"
Pyschologish: "Did your parents ever hit you?"
20yo client: "Once"
Psychologist: "Well then, you'll never be happy unless I can counsel you at $100/hr 3 times a week until I say your ok again".
20yo client: "Oh, ok, well your the professional and Oprah says I should see you so I will."

[Earl]

Until we have a double blind study with two sets of kids raised with identical parents and identical expectations, rules and regulations, where one set is never spanked and the other is physically abused, we won't know whether you are in denial or not.

[CookieWrites]

Children always deserve the benefit of the doubt with an investigation and protection. They need to see that even if their situation stays miserable that there was an adult who stood up for them. It helps that child develop good personal values. Otherwise they grow up believing that our society condones the mistreatment of children which unfortunately perpetuates mistreatment of the next generation.

[AgathaX]

Children who undergo the worst abuse, even sexual abuse, almost always do not want to be taken from their parents. No child is removed from their home over a single incident of violence, but there are certainly instances when it needs doing.

Frankly, I think filming and/or broadcasting domestic violence--whether physical or verbal--has the potential to be more abusive than the violence itself. Certainly standing aside while some is abused in anyway over a long period of time is abusive.

I'm agnostic on physical discipline. As my mother says: with one of her children it didn't help, and with the other it was unnecessary because just a look would have accomplished the same objective. I've spanked my child twice. I doubt it made any difference at all in the long run, but who knows. The true measure of a relationship is whether you felt your parents loved you--at least in their way--and wanted the best for you. People who lack that do end up talking to therapists, and rightly so. There is no more devastating way to start life than feeling unwanted. Many never get over it, but therapy can help them cope and move on.

[Libsrule]

I wonder just how many beatings ABC would have had to have seen to make one lousy fucking phone call.

They need to have their asses handed to them.

Hope she gets MILLIONS from those bastards. The lame assed excuse they gave was the same as beating the girl herself.

"Hey it was only ONE beating (that we saw) so what's the big deal?".

[Trittydi]

So this is the kind of "family viewing" Disney/ABC is getting into, eh?

WHY am I not surprised?

*

[oceanlover]

I wonder... if it were David Weston's daughter being abused in such a manner, if he would have been so complacent in this matter? Doesn't his wife work for Children's Television Workshop for goodness sake? Aren't they supposed to be the doting parents type? What a joke. What was Mr. Westin, (who also happens to be a lawyer thank you very much,) not just a father, thinking?! It's shameful. Disgraceful. Sickening. Money over conscience every single time with these unctuous self promoting types.

[aznurse]

Will ABC plead for retroactive immunity?

[RogerHWerner]

How about congenital stupidity.­..does that work?

[StanTheManic]

M-I-C

see ya real soon.

K-E-Y

Why? Because we LIKE you!

Way to go, Disney properties. This ought to boost the gate "the happiest place on earth" and do wonders for your "family" reputation.

[fcsakes]

Of course ABC didn't step in to stop the abuse; after all, that's what the media is for, create sensationalism and then exploit it. There is no such thing as "news."

I hope she gets double what she is suing for and I hope her stepfather rots in jail with a knife in his gut.

[Checquoline]

Her mother needs to rot in jail too. She was just as bad. That show broke my heart. I don't see how they could film this show that many hours and not call the child protective services. I hope she gets every dime she asked for.

[UkieOlie]

Seeing yourself on TV being humiliated and beaten by your stepfather must be an ugly and painful experience.
ABC should be ashamed.

[Cunningham]

Agreed. And they must be made to pay a lot.

[Nooneyouknow]

ABC seems to be the worst of the three nets these days in general dishonesty and right-wing hackery. Personally, I despise Diane Sawyer as the worst kind of amoral "journalis­t." Remember her interview with the Dixie Chicks after they told an audience they were ashamed that Bush came from Texas. Diane was right there, piling on the DCs with the rest of the rednecks and thugs. The world will be that much better when she retires.

[naturallight]

I agree. She should get every cent ABC made on selling commercial airtime that night. As well as punitive damages. Let the exploitation of Britney Spears fill the void for those with a perverse sense of voyerism. If you are watching that "catch a predator" trash, have some sense of shame not to COMMERCIALIZE it.

[GalaxieGal]

Invasion of privacy? A little late for that. The famiy signed a deal to allow filming, did they really think the footage would never be used?

Who will she sue for beatings that took place when no camera crew was present? Isn't she scarred from those beating as well?

I would bet that the contract stated that the crew was there to observe only and would not intervene. There is no excuse for not reporting the abuse however.

[kpod]

The family isn't suing, the step-daughter is. The family may have signed a deal, but she was only 15 at the time, so legally not able to sign a contract. Also, she's not suing ABC over the beating itself, but ABC's failure to report it.

[payforthepizza]

I know right Galaxie!
If i was 15 and being abused, and my abusive parents had put a camera in my house so they could broadcast it, I would have refused to sign the agreement.
If she couldn't think that far ahead, she should just deal. ;) ;) ;) ;0

Seriously Galaxie, please try to squeeze out a little more empathy for this poor girl/woman.

[GalaxieGal]

Good points all who commented that the girl didn't sign the contract. I'm still not sold on her case against the network however. For endangering her by failing to report - there is no question they are guilty of that. They sat on the footage til airtime because they knew if they showed to authorities, it would be confiscated as evidence. That's horrible and wrong.

[nanotubz]

Forgot you meds this morning? Only excuse for being such a miserable person.

[Boris]

There are a lot of unanswered questions here, yet the one remains, why did no one intervene?

And the lawsuit...­she should sue her stepfather. The truth of her miserable life belongs to the family.

The film should be shown over and over until people understand that child abuse is common and that children and abused women dont have the courage to fight against it.

This looks like another attempt by a second rate lawyer to fill his pockets and resume.

[LCRover001]

People know it is wrong. ABC is getting what it has coming.

Had they of stepped in when this was occurring instead of trying to make a profit off of it they could have stopped the abuse.

The girl would not have had to sue anyone then, what she is suing over is that ABC did not step in, that they showed something with out her permission, and that they made money from her pain.

If it weren’t for second rate lawyers we would still be picking glass out of baby food and have no way to defend our selves from the abuse and neglect of big business.

[CammyV]

How could ABC not have gotten a release before they aired this footage?
I wonder if she also sued her step father for abusing her?

[wm1066]

ABC has replaced all thier good people with political hacks who don't know enough to get the release. I assume when this was taking place the girl was a juvi and not able to sign a release but now that she is older it was negligent on ABC's part not to get a release.
Her father abused her then ABC abused her.

[ErnestineBass]

One can only hope that NBC's "To Catch A Predator" franchise suffers the same fate...

[payforthepizza]

right on. Its sad to see that humiliation is coming back into style.
I'm not in the pedophiles camp, but what they need is therapy and rehabilitation (hopefuly before they do soming they deserve to be in jail for.)

It seems like we ought to do the understanding first and make the judgements after. Here's hopeing.

[ConcernedAboutRFuture]

And are YOU going to seek them out and take them to therapy? Rarely if EVER can a pedophile be reformed.

Something breaks in them at a very young age... ie, abuse, shocking event, etc. and I prefer they be exposed rather than NOT... because I have a child.