A woman who says she handed over personal belongings, including bone remains of her mother to Univision in 2004 for a show on descendants of the Romanov dynasty, has sued the network, its Miami station 23-WLTV, reporter Pablo Padula and producer Pilar Campos of “Primer Impacto,” in Miami-Dade County Court.
According to Marimer Matos, of Courthouse News Service, Ana Teresa Martin says that at Univision’s request, she had her mother, who had been dead for over 25 years and is buried in Colombia, disinterred and sent a tibia, a fibia, a lock of hair, family photos, her mother’s passport photo, and other items to the TV chain, to see if her family is related to the last Russian czars. The woman claims she let the network borrow the items with the understanding they would be returned to her.
The complaint claims “defendant Pablo Padula then shipped the human remains to an anthropologist at the University of Florida for the purpose of conducting DNA analysis,” but that after three years of trying to retrieve the items, Martin found out that Univision, as well as “Primer Impacto’s” reporter and producer “were maintaining they had no obligation” to her. The reporter is no longer with the company. He was fired less than a year after the show aired.
When asked about the lawsuit, a Univision spokesperson stated: “We do not comment on matters in litigation.”
Martin seeks damages for negligence, vicarious liability, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent misrepresentation, conversion and breach of contract.