Lawyer Calls Fraud Verdict Against Ex-Wife Wrong

A lawyer for Bonnette Askew, who was ordered last week to pay her ex-husband nearly a quarter-million dollars for concealing her lack of sexual desire for him, argued Monday that the unique fraud verdict was wrong.

A Superior Court jury concluded Wednesday that Bonnette Askew, 46, deceived her husband, Ronald Askew, and ordered her to pay him $240,000 in damages, or about half the fair market value of four properties he bought during their 11-year marriage. Jurors also found Bonnette Askew liable for $2,000 in cash damages for defrauding her husband.

But her attorney, Richard W. Millar, told Judge Randell L. Wilkinson on Monday that he believes jurors received incorrect legal instructions before deliberating.

The jury concluded that Ronald Askew, 50, would not have married the woman or made her joint owner of four parcels of property if she had told him from the beginning that she found him physically undesirable. But they rejected Askew’s claim that his ex-wife intentionally deceived him so she could gain a share of his assets.

If Bonnette Askew did not lie in order to get her husband’s money, Millar argued, “there is no fraud in connection with the acquisition of the properties.” Therefore, he said, the jury’s award is not justified.

Most of Monday’s arguments were held in chambers and lawyers would not discuss them with reporters afterward, so it was not immediately clear whether Millar specifically asked Wilkinson to set aside the verdict.

Ronald Askew’s lawyer on Monday asked Wilkinson to order Bonnette Askew to surrender her share of the four parcels. It is unlikely she would simply pay $240,000 in cash instead, since her lawyer has said she doesn’t have that much money.

If upheld on appeal, legal experts have said, the jury’s verdict has the potential to reshape state law that says property must be equally divided upon divorce.

The Askews also have other properties still tied up in family court litigation.