Court rules to reopen Jinky's case

MANILA, Philippines - The district court of Reykjavik, Iceland has reopened the case of Jinky Young, the alleged Filipino child of the late Bobby Fischer, to allow her to provide further evidence in support of her claim to the estate of the chess legend in a paternity case.

In a ruling dated Sept.10, Judge Ingiridur Ludviksdottir reset the case to Oct. 6 to allow Marilyn Young, Jinky’s mother, to engage the services of another lawyer after their counsel in Iceland, Thordur Bogason, had a falling out with Jinky’s local lawyer, Sammy Estimo.

Estimo said that Bogason had prematurely closed the case without consulting his client after the DNA tests in Germany allegedly showed that Jinky was not Fischer’s child. He said that there were post-DNA remedies available like a request for a similar test to be conducted on the DNA samples of Fischer’s nephews who are also claimants to his estate.

If the result proves negative, then the seven tissue samples which were taken from the alleged remains of Fischer during their exhumation in July, were not genuinely his.

Estimo had also cited a provision in Icelandic law which would have favored the Filipino girl’s case but which was not used by Bogason. He said the law, plus the bank deposits, post cards signed by Fischer admitting that he was Jinky’s father, incriminating photos taken in a hotel in Hong Kong and the expensive house which Fischer bought for Jinky in Davao City could have helped Jinky’s case.

But even if Jinky loses at the District Court, she can still appeal to the Supreme Court . Bogason admitted in his letter to Marilyn dated Sept. 11 that a losing party at the District Court could go to the Supreme Court within two weeks from receipt of the lower court’s ruling.