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Embattled Sharks forward Evander Kane to face discovery in abortion-for-pay lawsuit

Kyle Cantlon
Writer
·2 min read
10
A judge ruled that Kane must face discovery in a lawsuit alleging he reneged on a promise to pay a woman $2 million if she aborted their pregnancy. (Getty)
A judge ruled that Kane must face discovery in a lawsuit alleging he reneged on a promise to pay a woman $2 million if she aborted their pregnancy. (Getty)

A federal judge just gave the go-ahead for discovery in a lawsuit alleging that NHL forward Evander Kane reneged on a promise to pay Hope Parker, the plaintiff, at least $2 million if she aborted their pregnancy.

The ruling means that Parker, who first sued in 2018, according to Daniel Kaplan of The Athletic, can start seeking things like electronic correspondence and testimony from Kane, who has said he "changed his mind" about paying Parker the agreed upon amount just prior to her providing him proof of the abortion.

According to The Athletic, via bankruptcy court documents, Parker allegedly aborted two other fetuses conceived with Kane in the past — with Kane paying her $125,000 for the second abortion.

“Plaintiff (Parker) was unwilling to terminate the third pregnancy until Defendant (Kane) offered her two to three million dollars to do so,” federal bankruptcy judge Stephen Johnson wrote, per The Athletic.

“Then, on June 13, 2018, Plaintiff sent Defendant a text message of her lab results, which confirmed she had terminated the third pregnancy. When Plaintiff requested Defendant update her on the status of her payment, Defendant, for the first time, told (Plaintiff) he was not going to pay her, stating: ‘I’ll have my lawyer contact you I’m not dealing with this any further then.’

“I can infer from the complaint that Plaintiff falsely said he would pay … to abort the third pregnancy, and that he did so to deceive (her) into actually undergoing that abortion.”

The Parker-Kane suit in California was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and then pushed once more after Kane filed for bankruptcy in January. A status conference scheduled for August was delayed until next year, which leaves "Parker’s complaint within the bankruptcy process," according to The Athletic.

The Sharks winger has been embroiled in several personal, off-ice issues over the past few months, including the aforementioned bankruptcy filings, a very messy ongoing divorce amid allegations that he bet on his own NHL games, and a push by Kane's own teammates to trade him out of town.

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