Gordon v. Gordon | |
---|---|
Court | District Court of Clark County, Nevada |
Full case name | La Toya Jackson-Gordon v. Jack Leon Gordon |
Decided | March 3, 1998 |
Citation(s) | Book 19990201, Page 01875 |
Case opinions | |
A dissolution of marriage, legal change of name, and domestic violence injunction were awarded to La Toya Jackson Gordon. | |
Court membership | |
Judge(s) sitting | Carl J. Christensen |
La Toya Jackson-Gordon v. Jack Leon Gordon was a highly publicized trial for a petition for a dissolution of marriage between American singer La Toya Jackson and her husband and manager Jack Gordon. On March 3, 1998, an order was entered by District Judge Carl J. Christensen at Clark County, Nevada, dissolving the marriage and awarding Jackson royalties, property, and a large sum of money. [1]
Jackson and Gordon were married on September 5, 1989, in Reno, Nevada. According to Jackson's autobiography, the marriage was both unplanned and against her will. [2] She later stated in an interview that Gordon tricked her into the marriage by brainwashing her into believing that her family was going to attempt to kidnap and kill her. What started as a business relationship soon turned into an abusive partnership; Gordon was arrested twice for second-degree assault against Jackson. [3] Jackson also filed a gender-based lawsuit against Gordon before filing for divorce. [4]
Gordon repeatedly used Jackson for a quick profit. In 1996, Gordon attempted to force Jackson to dance at a Reading, Pennsylvania, strip club, Al's Diamond cabaret. She refused to do so and in return, was booed and heckled by the crowd, who paid to see her strip. (Reading Eagle (Reading, PA) Publish date:January 6, 2007). She refused and returned home to be beaten. [5] It was at this point that Jackson left Gordon and immediately filed for divorce and a domestic violence injunction.
As a part of the original petition, it was requested that Gordon submit financial documents and all records of any property he owned. He exercised his right to not incriminate himself and refused to submit the documents to the court. His attorney admitted to this, and also admitted that Gordon had sold properties that he and Jackson mutually owned without Jackson's permission, despite the fact that the court had previously ordered that he not sell any of these properties until further instruction. [6]
From the final divorce decree, Gordon was ordered to return all of Jackson's fur coats, photographs, videos, and furnishings. He was also ordered to forgo his rights to any of Jackson's contracts that she signed during the marriage, including those with Sony Music Entertainment, BMG Music, Playboy Entertainment, and Penguin/Dutton Books. Jackson was awarded full ownership of the Las Vegas apartment where the couple resided during their marriage. [7]
As part of the final judgment, Jackson's maiden name was restored; the document specifically states that her name was changed from La Toya Jackson-Gordon to La Toya Jackson, thus eliminating her former middle name of Yvonne as a part of her legal name. [8]
The judge also ordered that Gordon was strictly forbidden from utilizing the likeness of Jackson in any newspaper, magazine, tabloid, or promotional media, and that any violation of this order would result in severe sanctions. [9] The order concludes with a response to Jackson's petition for a restraining order against Gordon; it was ordered by the court that Gordon and Jackson were both strictly prohibited from going within 100 feet of each other, each other's work place or residence, or any member of each other's family. [10]
Gordon was ordered to provide Jackson with a $350,000 settlement [11] and pay $15,000 to cover Jackson's attorney fees. [12] Jackson later stated in her autobiography "Starting Over" that Gordon did not pay her the $350,000 settlement she was awarded.
The Jewish view on marriage, historically, provided Biblically mandated rights to the wife which were accepted by the husband. A marriage was ended either because of a divorce document given by the man to his wife, or by the death of either party. Certain details, primarily as protections for the wife, were added in Talmudic times.
Alimony is a legal obligation on a person to provide financial support to their spouse before or after marital separation or divorce. The obligation arises from the divorce law or family law of each country.
La Toya Yvonne Jackson is an American singer, songwriter, actress, businesswoman and television personality. The fifth and middle child of the Jackson family, Jackson first gained recognition on the family's variety television series, The Jacksons, on CBS between 1976 and 1977. Thereafter, she saw success as a solo recording artist under multiple record labels in the 1980s and 1990s, including Polydor, Sony Music and RCA, where she released nine studio albums over the course of fifteen years. Her most successful releases in the United States were her self-titled debut album (1980) and the 1984 single "Heart Don't Lie". Jackson's other songs include "If You Feel the Funk", "Bet'cha Gonna Need My Lovin'", "Hot Potato", "You're Gonna Get Rocked!" and "Sexbox". Another one of Jackson's songs, "Just Say No" from her fifth album was composed for US first lady Nancy Reagan and Reagan administration's anti-drug campaign.
Annulment is a legal procedure within secular and religious legal systems for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is considered to be invalid from the beginning almost as if it had never taken place. In legal terminology, an annulment makes a void marriage or a voidable marriage null.
Katherine Esther Jackson is the matriarch of the Jackson family, an American family of entertainers.
The Algerian Family Code, enacted on June 9, 1984, specifies the laws relating to familial relations in Algeria. It includes strong elements of Islamic law which have brought it praise from Islamists and condemnation from secularists and feminists.
An agunah is a Jewish woman who is stuck in her religious marriage as determined by halakha. The classic case of this is a man who has left on a journey and has not returned, or has gone into battle and is MIA. It is used as a borrowed term to refer to a woman whose husband refuses, or is unable, to grant her a divorce.
Incidental questions in private international law with respect to the problems and elements discussed below
Jack Leon Gordon, also known as Samuel Isaac Gordon and Clifford William Johnson, was an American businessman and entertainment manager. Gordon was most known as the former manager and later husband of American singer–songwriter La Toya Jackson. In addition to being Jackson's manager, Gordon later served as the manager of American tabloid subject later turned porn actor John Wayne Bobbitt. Gordon died of cancer on April 19, 2005 at age 65.
Legal responses to agunah are civil legal remedies against a spouse who refuses to cooperate in the process of granting or receiving a Jewish legal divorce or "get".
A get or gett is a document in Jewish religious law which effectuates a divorce between a Jewish couple. The requirements for a get include that the document be presented by a husband to his wife. The essential part of the get is a very short declaration: "You are hereby permitted to all men". The effect of the get is to free the woman from the marriage, and consequently she is free to marry another and that the laws of adultery no longer apply. The get also returns to the wife the legal rights that a husband held in regard to her.
Starting Over, also known by its working title Startin' Over, is a 2011 extended play by American singer La Toya Jackson. The EP contains two top twenty-five U.S. Billboard Dance Club hits; "Just Wanna Dance" and "Free the World". The autobiographical EP is described as the soundtrack to her memoir Starting Over. The EP has reportedly seen over 72,000 downloads worldwide, thanks in part to her NY Times bestselling book of the same name.
Khulʿ, also called khula, is a procedure through which a woman can divorce her husband in Islam, by returning the dower (mahr) or something else that she received from her husband, as agreed by the spouses or Qadi’s (court) decree. Based on traditional fiqh, and referenced in the Qur'an and hadith, khul' allows a woman to initiate a divorce.
Divorce in the United States, also known as dissolution of marriage, is a legal process in which a judge or other authority dissolves the bonds of matrimony existing between two persons, thus restoring them to the status of being single and permitting them to marry other individuals. In the United States, marriage and divorce fall under the jurisdiction of state governments, not the federal government.
Fleitas v. Richardson, 147 U.S. 550 (1893), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that under the Louisiana Code, the liability of the husband to the wife for her separate property received by him under the marriage contract is in the nature of a debt secured by mortgage of his lands, and may be enforced by her by direct suit against him. It may also be extinguished by his discharge in bankruptcy.
Williams v. North Carolina, 317 U.S. 287 (1942), is a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that the federal government determines marriage and divorce statuses between state lines. Mr. Williams and Ms. Hendrix moved to Nevada and filed for divorce from their respective spouses. Once the divorces were final Mr. Williams and Ms. Hendrix were married and then moved back to North Carolina. They lived there together until they were charged by the state of North Carolina for bigamous cohabitation.
Sevcik v. Sandoval is the lead case that successfully challenged Nevada's denial of same-sex marriage as mandated by that state's constitution and statutory law. The plaintiffs' complaint was initially filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada on April 10, 2012, on behalf of several couples denied marriage licenses. These couples challenged the denial on the basis of the U.S. Constitution's Fourteenth Amendment guarantee of equal protection.
Same-sex marriage in the U.S. state of Missouri is legal under the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, which struck down state bans on marriages between two people of the same sex on June 26, 2015. Prior to the court ruling, the state recognized same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions pursuant to a state court ruling in October 2014, and certain jurisdictions of the state performed same-sex marriage despite a statewide ban.
Kimberly Jean Davis is a former county clerk for Rowan County, Kentucky who gained international attention in August 2015 when she defied a U.S. federal court order to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. She was defeated by Democratic challenger Elwood Caudill Jr. in the November 6, 2018 election and vacated the office on January 7, 2019.
Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code was a section dealing with adultery. Only a man who had consensual sexual intercourse with the wife of another man without his consent could have been punished under this offence in India. The law became defunct on 27 September 2018 by a judgement of the Supreme Court of India. The Supreme Court called the law unconstitutional because it "treats a husband as the sole master." However it is still a sufficient ground for divorce as ruled by the Supreme Court.