Legal Commentary

Alaska Court Opens Palin-Johnston Custody Proceedings

By Jeralyn

Bristol Palin has been trying mightily to keep her lawsuit for sole custody of her and Levi Johnston's son Tripp closed to the public. Levi wants them open, as protection, primarily, he alleges, because of Sarah Palin's interference and manipulation.

This week the Judge ruled in Levi's favor and unsealed all the documents to date. This pleading has most of them, including Levi's answer to Bristol's petition for custody in which he asks for joint custody, Bristol's petition and the orders denying closure of the proceedings and a related request they use pseudonyms instead of people's names.

The pleadings also include Bristol's request that Levi's mother be barred from unsupervised visitation because of her use of pain meds for a chronic medical problem and her felony drug conviction. [More...]

Mrs. Johnston's condition isn't specified, but apparently it's quite serious as she requires continuous infusions through a pain pump and the Department of Corrections is administering them to her. Bristol's pleadings include copies of Mrs. Johnston's court documents that state they are sealed. I wonder if she got permission to file them in the custody case.

Levi's pleadings say he has no problem with Bristol but that he believes Sarah is running the show. At one point, Bristol sought to have him held in contempt of court and asked for an arrest warrant. Apparently, someone reported Levi said he was going to fight for custody after she filed the lawsuit and got a temporary closure order. Levi says she wouldn't have done that without the urging of Sarah, as Sarah is known to play hard ball with her enemies. He argues publicly airing the proceedings will protect him.

The Court pointed out that the temporary order was not a gag order, but an order preventing the disclosure of the pleadings.

Bristol also accuses Levi of posting a tweet that referred to using marijuana, but Levi responds it was a fake, he doesn't have a twitter account.

Other pleadings are here , here, here and here.

Levi's pleadings don't contain a single harsh accusation against Bristol. Her's are filled with complaints and negative comments about him, his lifestyle, his parenting abilities and his behavior, all filed when she thought they'd be kept under seal. Hopefully opening the proceedings will prompt the whole family to keep their dirty laundry under wraps, unless it's directly related to the child.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on December 29, 2009 (boomark / email).