NY court overturns adoption of Cambodian orphan by J&J heiress in fight with ex-lover
By APTuesday, February 16, 2010
NY court overturns adoption by J&J heiress
ALBANY, N.Y. — A four-year adoption fight between jet-setting Manhattanites over an ailing and abandoned orphan from Cambodia is ending, at least for now, with the boy able to see the only father he’s known.
New York’s top court on Tuesday overturned the adoption by Johnson & Johnson heiress Elizabeth “Libet” Johnson. A midlevel court had already affirmed that diet doctor Lionel Bissoon is 7-year-old boy’s adoptive father.
Johnson’s lawyer says he has several options, including taking the international case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The child continues to live with Johnson, although the decision gives Bissoon the legal standing he sought to see the child he helped rescue.
The decision also states that although Bissoon doesn’t want to remove the child from Johnson’s home, he maintains that he could under the law.
