Setback for Quets: She must pay
By Titan Barksdale / newsobserver.com
The effort by Allison Quets to win back the twins she put up for adoption and then kidnapped from the adoptive parents was dealt another blow by a recent court order.
Wake District Judge Anne Salisbury ruled Thursday that Quets should pay the legal fees of the twins' adoptive parents, Kevin and Denise Needham. The Needhams have been defending themselves against a lawsuit Quets filed in November to get visitation rights with the twins, Holly and Tyler.
Salisbury criticized Quets in her order, saying that Quets' suit was based on weak legal theories and flimsy facts and has caused an undue burden on the Needhams.
"This serves to cause needless increases in the cost of litigation"for the Needhams, Salisbury said. "She was fully aware of the financial burden of prolonged litigation."
Quets' attorney, Mike Harrell, stands by the lawsuit, saying its merits are strong. He added that an appeal would be filed.
"To [penalize] anybody in this case ... I just don't think it's right," he said. "I felt, and still feel, that this is a well-founded complaint."
Harrell filed the lawsuit for Quets in Wake County to restore visitation rights that had been ended by a Florida court. Salisbury dismissed the lawsuit in January, and the Needhams requested that Quets pay their attorney fees as a penalty.
Lee Rosen, a Raleigh lawyer who focuses on family law, said it's unusual for judges to impose a penalty in custody cases.
"Custody cases are filled with high emotions, and judges are usually pretty tolerant," Rosen said. "For a judge to impose [a penalty], somebody has really stepped over the line."
Quets' lawsuit continued a bitter dispute with the Needhams, an Apex couple. She has filed a series of legal challenges against them in North Carolina and Florida.
Though few legal options remain for Quets, it doesn't appear that Salisbury's ruling will end the custody dispute or crush Quets' persistence to reunite with Holly and Tyler.
Quets, reached by telephone Monday, talked about appealing Salisbury's order. She said she had not seen the order, which outlines some tactics Quets used in the case.
The order says Quets offered the Needhams $150,000 to give her Holly and Tyler. It also says Quets omitted information from the lawsuit about rulings against her in Florida.
In 2004, Quets became pregnant through in vitro fertilization. After a difficult pregnancy, she signed papers giving custody to the Needhams. Hours later, she wanted the children back, claiming she had signed under duress.
Quets was allowed to visit the twins but initiated a legal battle to regain custody.
A former systems engineer, she quit her job in December 2006. During a visitation, she fled with the children to a bed-and-breakfast in Canada. She was arrested and charged with international parental kidnapping and second-degree kidnapping. She spent eight months in a Franklin County jail, awaiting trial.
In December, she was freed after a judge sentenced her to five years' probation. A month later, Salisbury blocked Quets' attempt at visitation.
Quets has appealed the ruling on visitation rights.