Exclusive Court Documents Relating to Clayton Echard's Paternity Scandal

Summary

• Clayton Echard's paternity scandal ruling reveals fraudulent claims, impacting his mental health and finances significantly.
• A Judge has ruled in Clayton's favor, ordering Laura Owens to pay fees. Clayton remains positive and hopes for Laura's well-being.
• Clayton opens up about the emotional toll, loss of passion for mental health advocacy, and plans for upcoming projects like a mental health podcast.

Former Bachelor leading man Clayton Echard (formerly attached to Susie Evans) won an "emotionally exhausting" paternity scandal and is exclusively sharing how the case impacted his mental health and professional life.

The case captured the eye of Bachelor Nation as Clayton's brief fling filed a lawsuit accusing him of impregnating her with twins and demanded a prenatal DNA test in Arizona's Maricopa County Family Court. The former free agent for the Seattle Seahawks denied they ever had full sexual intercourse but admitted to taking part in some physical acts.

This article will reveal the judge's ruling obtained by TheThings.com. Then, we will share our exclusive interview with Clayton Echard as well as reaction from the lawyer of Laura Owens, the woman who claimed she was pregnant.

Read The Judge's Ruling Below

Court documents obtained by TheThings.com reveal Arizona Judge Julie Mata ruled Owens "acted unreasonably in the litigation" and "knowingly presented a false claim, knowingly violated a court order compelling disclosure or discovery."

Judge Mata added "Without an authentic ultrasound, sonogram, physical examination, and in conjunction with a belief she passed tissue in July 2023, the Court finds the underlying Petition premature at best."

The ruling went on to state "because the petition was not filed in good faith, the petition was not grounded in fact or based on law, the petition was filed for an improper purpose, such as to harass the other party, to cause an unnecessary delay or to increase the cost of litigation to the other party. Here, the Court finds Petitioner provided false testimony as to the viability of the pregnancy in all three cases addressed in the procedural history. Additionally, prior to her deposition, Petitioner sent a threatening letter to Respondent indicating her intention to sue him for 1.4 million dollars in collateral allegations unless he agreed to dismiss this action that she initiated."

The court ordered Owens to pay Clayton's attorney fees and costs. Clayton exclusively revealed to TheThings.com that his legal fees for the case were "north of $150,000" and could be up to $200,000.

Owens may now even face criminal charges because the court claimed she had a "pattern of similar, if not identical behavior, and court involvement" in the past.

Clayton Echard Reacts To The Ruling In An Exclusive Interview With TheThings.Com

In an exclusive interview with TheThings.com, Clayton reacted to the order and shared just how hard this case impacted his life, finances and mental health.

These last nine months have just been about surviving the day.

Clayton said he leaned on his family, friends and support from her alleged previous victims who "provided strength" and "picked the slack" to help get him through.

He said fallout from the case filed by what he calls an "extremely diabolical" woman made him shut down all of his mental health speaking engagements at middle schools, high schools and colleges. Officials apparently didn't want to defend bringing in Clayton to worried parents that would Google the former Bachelor and see headlines from this paternity scandal.

That took away my passion to speak about mental health, which infuriated me, but I'll get back to that place of being an advocate soon.

Clayton released a book titled 180 Degrees: On Mental Health, Mindfulness, and Unlocking Self-Belief in 2023 and will soon release a mental health podcast for men.

He says he's been approached to write a book or participate in a documentary about this recent case but claims he "hasn't really thought about it."

The former footballer is staying positive though, and hoping Laura gets the help she needs.

On Instagram, he thanked his team, friends, family and journalists for making sure "the truth prevails. "

"To the journalists, some of who were threatened personally, who pushed through to share this unbelievable saga of Lauren Michelle Owens faking pregnancies and medical records in order to force relationships, you are truth warriors and I am incredibly humbled.

The former reality television "will participate" in any potential criminal case that will come out of this and he fears that she has "no signs of stopping."

We need intervention by the courts to hold her accountable and hopefully the county attorney will do just that.

He is asking people to "refrain from any commentary towards Laura that could be interpreted as harmful." He hopes she turns over a new leaf and "gets the help she needs."

Laura Owens' Attorney Responds To The Ruling In Lengthy Statement

Laura Owens' attorney, David Gingras, says he believes she was pregnant and that she "had a miscarriage that happened without her knowing it" and is going to keep fighting for his client.

Clayton has won a battle, but the war is not even close to over.

Gingras wrote in his statement, "Laura isn’t happy. She’s shocked. She honestly doesn’t understand how the court got this SO wrong. She feels betrayed by Judge Mata and by the court system as a whole."

He even took aim at the judge and said he emailed the court requesting they remove Judge Mata for judicial misconduct.

According to his statement, "In this instance, the concern was based on stories posted on social media that claimed Judge Mata’s father attended the trial, and afterward he spoke to members of Clayton’s Cult. According to at least one person, the judge’s father made statements implying that Judge Mata shared information about the case with him, including a suggesting she was going to make adverse rulings BEFORE the trial began."

He plans to file an appeal in the fall and insists "this case is not over."

In an unusual move, her attorney ended his official statement by casually mentioning he posted the entire thing while sitting poolside on Norwegian Getaway in Rome, Italy on June 19, 2024.

Timeline of Clayton and Laura's Interactions

Clayton met Laura back in 2023 when she reached out to him on Linkedin to be her realtor for potential investment properties in Scottsdale, AZ.

Clayton said there was no real way conception could have happened but days later she told him that she was pregnant and eventually sued Echard in Maricopa County Family Court to take a prenatal DNA test.

The court-ordered paternity test came back with “little to no fetal DNA” and according to court documents obtained by TheThings, Laura "testified she has been pregnant four times. Each time, the alleged father believed she fabricated the pregnancy and doctored medical records."

The judge suggested the false pregnancies could have been caused by the medication she was on.

Even court documents reveal "the court does not find the sexual contact between Petitioner and Respondent resulted in a pregnancy". Documents reveal she also was not treated by the medical professional she claimed to be throughout her alleged pregnancy.

What Happened On Clayton Echard's Season Of The Bachelor?

If this case wasn't scandalous enough, at the time, he was still facing backlash from his own heated season of The Bachelor that premiered January 3, 2022.

As fans remember, he was slammed for telling his final three women -- Gabby Windey, Rachel Recchia and Susie Evans -- that he loved them.

He broke up with Gabby and Rachel (who went on to star in a season of The Bachelorette together) and tried to patch things up with Susie. Unfortunately, their romance only lasted a few months.

Is Clayton Still With Susie Evans?

Clayton is no longer with his final pick Susie Evans.

She started dating Justin Glaze, from Katie Thurston's season, after creating content with him on social media as friends.