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New York Post, January 21, 1993

WOULDN'T it have been simpler for director John Avildsen to simply give child support to the son he fathered with model Miroslawa Prystay 11 years ago? The boy's almost old enough to write a tell-all, and Avildsen, who directed box-office cash cows "Rocky," "The Karate Kid," "Lean on Me" and "Save the Tiger," may now have to pay big bucks for keeping the case in the courts all these years. Last week, N.Y. Supreme Court Justice Shirley Fingerhood decided that Avildsen had purposely inflicted emotional distress on his former lover by putting the child-support money in escrow and suing her for daring to ask that a check be sent one month early. The onetime professional beauty testified that she suffered "phlebitis, significant hair loss, and constant stress" and that she and the boy, Ashley, had to go on welfare while Avildsen and socialite-wife Tracy Brooks Swope lived comfortably. Avildsen's lawyer Harvey Sladkus says Judge Hortense Gabel approved a contract in 1983 under which Avildsen would give Prystay a lump sum and five years of support under a N.Y. law which allows fathers to cut compromise deals over illegitimate children. "He met his obligation. Now, 10 years later, a judge says "I'm going to change the rules retroactively.' If the policy in New York state is not a good one, then repeal the statute." But Elliott Livingston, a Prystay legal advisor, says that by putting the bucks in escrow, "Avildsen blew up his own agreement." Prystay's lawyer Ann Detiere says, "He's a multimillionaire and she's stone broke. Technically, every father in this country is supposed to support their children. This guy is just too rich to be bothered."