Family Sues Daughter To Prove That They Are A Loving Family

Tianna Madison's family is suing their gold medalist daughter, because they love her that much...

You can run all the way to the Olympics, but you can’t hide from your family (rim shot).

It’s always nice when an Olympic story of overcoming hardship results in a lawsuit for libel and slander. Olympic sprinter Tianna Madison won the gold medal as part of the U.S. Women’s 4×100 relay. During the Olympics, Madison revealed that she had been the victim of molestation and that her parents had mismanaged her finances.

To which her parents said, “What”?

So, Madison’s parents did what most loving parents would do when their daughter says something they disagree with — they filed a lawsuit….

The lawsuit from Madison’s parents against Tianna and her husband John Bartoletta is the stuff that mid-day courthouse television is made of. From Courthouse News Service:

The parents say they “were shocked by these unfounded and untrue allegations.” They say that they have not been sued, or served, with such a lawsuit.

The parents say their daughter sent them an email on July 21, containing an article Tianna had written. “Tianna Madison indicated that the article had been sent to ‘multiple news agencies’ as well as ‘all social media sites,'” according to the complaint.

In the article, which the parents say was sent to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, their daughter “falsely and defamatorily asserted” that her parents had “engaged in fraudulent behavior directed toward her and her finances, misused and/or otherwise misappropriated finances belonging to her, and falsely asserted that the plaintiffs … [had] invited a boy into their home in the presence of defendant Tianna Madison, who had previously molested her, and that at the time of such invitation, plaintiffs Robert Madison and Jo Ann Madison had known of the molestation,” according to the complaint.

It continues: “Until this article appeared, plaintiffs Robert Madison and Jo Ann Madison were not aware of any molestation of defendant Tianna Madison, and at present, they remain unaware of whether defendant Tianna Madison was ever molested or not.”

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I wish I had my own courthouse television show. Then I could whip out one liners like, “Knowing whether or not your daughter was molested is article I of good parenting.”

Oh, but let’s not be cynical. After all, the parents say that this isn’t about money, it’s just about getting their daughter’s attention. From the Daily Mail:

[Family attorney Scott Schooler] said that his clients wanted to use this lawsuit as a method of getting their daughters attention.

‘It was a wake-up call for Tianna to really look at the entire situation and look at what exactly is going on,’ he said.

‘Hopefully, she will realize there is some importance in having a relationship with her parents.’

I’m so going to try this method out when my son gets here. “Son, I’m filing a temporary restraining order against your peeing while I change your diaper. You can see that an immediate injunction is appropriate just to get you to look at the entire situation of me attempting to change your diaper, and look at what’s exactly going on.”

Come on, like you wouldn’t tune in to see Judge Mystal: The Courtroom Where We Make It Rain.

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Parents Claim Olympic Heroine Defamed Them [Courthouse News Service]
Sued by her own parents: Family of U.S. Olympic gold medal winner demand $50,000 over ‘lies about sexual abuse and hardship’ [Daily Mail]