LASTING EFFECTS

Kyle, now 20, suffers lasting effects from the abuse and ABC’s promotion of it, Norfolk said.

Kyle will not speak with reporters, he said, pending legal outcome of this case.

“In the ‘Primetime’ segment that aired April 21, 2006, Joe Nelson is seen kneeling on Kyle and punching her repeatedly,” Norfolk said in a telephone interview.

“We maintain that a situation of continual, ongoing child abuse could have been stopped by ABC. Filming and airing it has caused lasting emotional harm to my client.”

Norfolk said Kyle blacked out large portions of time spent living with Joe Nelson and his wife, neither of whom are her biological parents. Nelson had previously been married to her birth mother.

BACK IN SPOTLIGHT

In a press statement, Norfolk said reproach against his client from the lawsuit has been considered.

“Before commencing the lawsuit, I asked Kyle to think long and hard whether she would be up to the challenge of taking on a corporate media giant such as ABC.

“In making her decision to proceed with the lawsuit, Kyle assured me that she understands that there, unfortunately, is a strong likelihood that she may be once again placed in the public spotlight and have her intentions and motivation behind the lawsuit questioned.

“Nonetheless, Kyle knows she has been wronged and believes this lawsuit will result in reparation and justice being served,” Norfolk said.

“It is Kyle’s expectation that the justice system and this lawsuit will give her the opportunity to be made whole again, have the resources she needs to get counseling to complete her healing process and be sure that no child has to go through what she went through or be exploited as she intends to prove she was by ABC.”

Press-Republican calls to ABC spokesperson Page Caposella in New York were not immediately returned.