Florida – Star Trek actor William Shatner is being sued by a 59-year-old radio DJ called Peter Sloan for $170 million. A lawsuit filed in Florida states that Sloan claims the 85-year-old star is his biological father, as reported by People magazine. The radio DJ seeks $90 million in punitive damages, $50 million in pain and suffering and $30 million in compensatory damages. Shatner hasn’t reacted to these claims yet.
Sloan claims Canadian actress Kathy McNeil, his biological mother, had an ephemeral affair with Shatner while working together in Toronto, according to court documents released by Page Six. McNeil allegedly gave Sloan up for adoption five days after his birth. Court documents state that Shatner has denied Sloan is his son.
As written on the lawsuit, the radio DJ met the “Boston Legal” sitcom star in 1984 on the Burbank, California set of T.J. Hooker. Sloan claims the actor recognized him as his son and that even invited him to go back to the set the following week.
The lawsuit states that Sloan returned home to New Jersey and tried to reach Shatner by phone, but the actor reportedly didn’t seem interested and hung up. Some on behalf of Shatner allegedly contacted Sloan a few days later and told him the star was denying paternity and refusing to take a DNA test.
That someone asked Sloan not to make his claims public because it “could be horrendous for” the actor, according to the lawsuit.
Sloan claims he met Shatner again in 2009 at a public meet-and-greet. He then started a website at petershatner.com and in 2011 began using the same Peter Shatner for a local CBS radio show.
This might not be the first time someone claims to be Shatner’s long-lost child
The radio DJ alleges he received a letter from the actor’s lawyer that same year, saying that many people throughout the years had claimed to be his children or other relatives and that Shatner was a busy 80-year-old man who didn’t intend to waste time discussing such an issue with anyone.
Shatner is also being accused of getting Twitter to shut down Sloan’s account and hurting his business opportunities by having IMDB Pro remove a page about an important project he was working on.
Source: People