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Deadbeat Dad--II
Our April 6, 2004, column included this rather appalling item:

In 1972, when Kenneth Caldwell was just a baby, his father, Leon, walked out on the family, leaving mom Elsie Caldwell to raise Kenneth and his brother on her own. . . . Leon Caldwell saw Kenneth only two more times before Sept. 11, 2001, when Kenneth Caldwell, 30, died at the World Trade Center, where he worked on the 102nd floor of the north tower.

Then Leon Caldwell reappeared on the scene. Mrs. Caldwell, as Kenneth's next of kin, had applied for a $50,000 workmen's compensation death benefit, and Mr. Caldwell wanted to cash in on his son's murder. Last week, New York's Daily News reports, a state appeals court in Albany ruled "that Leon Caldwell met the legal definition of a parent and could collect half the death benefit," though he won't get to keep most of the money: "The court ruled he must pay his ex-wife $20,000[*]--the amount he owes her in delinquent support payments."

This might or might not have been the correct decision, legally speaking. But Mrs. Caldwell is surely right when she calls Mr. Caldwell's money-grubbing "despicable." Leon and Elsie Caldwell were married when Kenneth was born, but that doesn't mean the father isn't a bastard.
It seems Leon Caldwell wasn't satisfied with 25 grand less child-support arrears. Today's Daily News reports that he is seeking to collect a cool $1.45 million--"half of the $2.9 million awarded by the Victim Compensation Fund." We've obtained a copy of the brief Mrs. Caldwell filed against her ex-husband (it's a long PDF), and it sounds as though he'll have a harder time collecting this time--in part because of his previous success. The brief notes that in the proceedings dealing with the workman's comp benefit, Mr. Caldwell did not dispute the assertion that he had abandoned his son; and it argues that he cannot do so now that that issue has been litigated.

Of course, there are two sides to this case, and we'll be happy to post Mr. Caldwell's brief in response if his lawyer would be so kind as to send it along. The Daily News, however, reports that Caldwell "did not return calls for comment."

* Mrs. Caldwell's brief in the estate case puts this figure at $12,460.