Bergaust v. Flaherty

703 S.E.2d 248 (2011)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

P want to Paris and met Flaherty (D), an American filmmaker then living in Paris. They cultivated 'an unusual connection.' P returned to France on December 1, 1995, to visit D. During her visit, P and D has sex. P returned to Virginia a few days before Christmas. Shortly thereafter, she discovered she was pregnant. D was 'a little bit shocked,' at the news and said he would do whatever P wanted to do and he promised to support her 'in any way that he possibly could.' D offered to secure an abortion pill and encouraged her to attend a support group for adoptive birth mothers. D never denied having parented the child; rather, he consistently referred to the forthcoming child as 'our baby.' P's daughter, C.B., was born in Arlington, Virginia, on August 1, 1996. In March of 1997, when C.B. was about seven months old, D came to Virginia for a visit. D held C.B. and played with her. The visit was memorialized in pictures. D returned to Paris, and the phone calls tapered off over time. In the summer of 2008, C.B., who was then almost twelve years old, was watching a documentary on television in which D appeared. C.B. recognized D from the photographs taken of his visit to McLean in 1997. She expressed her excitement at seeing her father. P filed a Uniform Support Petition seeking establishment of paternity and child support. D defended the action on the ground that the court lacked personal jurisdiction over him. The court granted D's motion to dismiss.