Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, December 3, 1993                   TAG: 9312030181
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: FAIRFAX                                LENGTH: Medium

ABC, PRODUCERS SUED OVER MOVIE

The movie dramatized the story of Foretich's wife, Dr. Elizabeth Morgan, who sent their daughter, Hilary, to New Zealand in 1987 in the midst of a stormy District of Columbia child-custody battle.

Morgan, a plastic surgeon, was jailed for 22 months in Washington for refusing to allow Foretich to visit Hilary and for keeping their daughter's whereabouts a secret.

The suit, filed in Fairfax County Circuit Court, alleges the makers of "A Mother's Right: The Elizabeth Morgan Story" were negligent, invaded Foretich's privacy, defamed him, inflicted emotional distress, interfered with his business and insulted him. Foretich is seeking damages of up to $60 million for each count.

Defendants are ABC Inc., Capital Cities/ABC Inc. and ABC Holding Co., all of New York, and the Landsburg Co. of Los Angeles. Three co-producers with the Landsburg Co. also are named as defendants. The suit lists 100 people as Jane Doe or John Doe - producers, sponsors, directors, broadcasters and others whose names Foretich and his attorney, Stephen A. Armstrong of Fairfax, did not know when the suit was filed Monday.

"This is not a story, it is a fable combining false statements of fact into the appearance of a story," the lawsuit says.

Suzi Schor, an assistant to a vice president of the Landsburg Co. who is named in the suit, declined comment. ABC spokeswoman Julie Hoover said the company would not comment on pending litigation.

The ABC movie broadcast on Nov. 29, 1992, portrayed Foretich as a child molester, a rapist, an unconvicted criminal and as "sinful, venal, and/or immoral because he engaged in perverted sexual conduct and sexual intercourse with his own minor daughter," the suit says.

The portrayal of Foretich, a Great Falls oral surgeon, was untrue, the suit says. A District of Columbia Superior Court judge found in 1985 and 1987 that there was insufficient evidence that Foretich abused his daughter, according to the suit.