Ronn Owens’ daughter loses court bid in pregnancy scandal; must pay $200K

In the same week that KGO-810 radio legend Ronn Owens filed for bankruptcy, citing more than $2.3 million in liabilities, an unpaid mortgage and credit card debt, his daughter Laura Owens lost her bid to have the Arizona Supreme Court review a petition that stems from her notorious paternity litigation against “Bachelor” star Clayton Echard, in which she claimed that he got her pregnant with twins after a one-night stand in May 2023.

News came Wednesday that the Supreme Court’ had denied her petition for review, a decision that leaves intact a 2024 trial court ruling, which declared that the 35-year-old daughter of the Bay Area media legend failed to produce “evidence” that she was ever pregnant by Echard. The TV dating show star has all along maintained that they never had sexual intercourse during their encounter, just oral sex. The court’s decision also means that Laura Owens is on the hook for Echard’s attorney’s fees, which initially were $149,000 but have ballooned to more than $200,000 as she appealed the trial court’s ruling.

Judge Julie Mata in Maricopa County, where the Owens family now lives, said that Laura Owens lacked “good faith,” as she relentlessly pursued costly paternity claims against Echard in 2023 and 2024. The judge furthermore cited “serial fabrications” that Laura Owens made in her court declarations, deposition and testimony, as the judge referred the case to Maricopa County Attorney’s Office for potential criminal prosecution.

“Clayton and our team are happy, but certainly not surprised, by the Arizona Supreme Court’s decision to deny review,” Echard’s attorney, Gregg Woodnick, said in a statement to this news organization. “Her paternity claims against Clayton were predicated on fraud. The trial court identified it, the Court of Appeals accepted it, and the Arizona Supreme Court not only declined to review the matter but awarded more fees against Owens.”

Laura Owens unsuccessfully appealed Mata’s ruling to higher courts in Arizona and pursued the Supreme Court review, even after she was indicted in May on seven felony counts of perjury, fraud, forgery and evidence tampering.

The indictment alleges that Laura Owens doctored a sonogram and pregnancy video and lied under oath as she pressed her paternity claims against Echard. In November 2023, she testified in court that she was 24 weeks pregnant with twins, as she appeared virtually, wearing what Woodnick alleged was a prosthetic pregnancy belly. Laura Owens dropped her lawsuit at the end of 2023, saying she had miscarried at some point earlier without knowing it.

“Faking medical records, disease, and sexual assault allegations is deplorable,” Woodnick continued. At one point, Laura Owens alleged in court documents that Echard briefly penetrated her during their sexual encounter without her consent. She also said she had been dealing with a high-risk pregnancy, due to epilepsy, and had been diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome as a teenager, while a purported history of ovarian cancer also became an issue in the trial.

“Abusing the legal process, perjury, records tampering, and other behaviors warrant the proceedings that are now in the hands of the criminal court and Maricopa County Attorney’s Office,” Woodnick concluded. “Victims should be believed, but false allegations ruin lives. Clayton is fortunate to have had a community that supported him in exposing the truth.”

Court records in Arizona and San Francisco show that Laura Owens also said she became pregnant during sexual encounters with three other men since 2014, with her saying that those purported pregnancies also ended in either abortions or miscarriages. In a court declaration, Woodnick called Laura Owens a “serial fraud,” saying she has a history of using lawsuits and falsified medical records to try and compel men into relationships

Laura Owens and her attorney in the paternity case, David Gingras, declined to comment on the Supreme Court ruling, pending her criminal case in Arizona. On his X account, Gingras wrote that he had heard about the Supreme Court’s decision and acknowledged that this “aspect of the case is over.” He also said: “Sad. Not overly surprised. The outcome was wrong, but the court wasn’t willing to help. It happens.”

In a clip of a YouTube video that Gingras and Laura Owens made together before her indictment, and which has since been deleted, he told her: “I hope you never pay Clayton. … If you have millions of dollars stashed away, he can go look for it. If you don’t, he ain’t getting nothing.”

After Laura Owens admitted she didn’t have any money for Echard to obtain via a collection agency, Gingras also said: “You get blood from a stone or you don’t” and “Clayton can go (expletive) himself.”

And yet, Laura Owens is expected to come up with money to pay a hefty bill for her private criminal defense, which legal experts say could run well into the six figures. Her famous parents, Ronn Owens and former KCBS news anchor Jan Black, also are in dire financial straits. Revelations about their struggles emerged late last year when Ronn Owens promoted a $140,000 GoFundMe campaign to raise money for himself and his wife. He said they were dealing with “overwhelming” financial difficulties amid his “profound” health challenges, the couple have filed for bankruptcy.

Eight months later, the couple filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy, revealing that they owe some $511,000 to more than 40 banks, credit card companies and other creditors, despite Owens’ illustrious and seemingly lucrative 46-year career at KGO-810.

The bankruptcy documents were filed in federal court in Arizona. Owens, Black and Laura moved to Scottsdale, Arizona  during the pandemic after Owens left KGO for good. Owens and Black purchased a home, now valued at $1.5 million, expecting it would be better suited to Owens’ mobility issues than their longtime home in San Francisco’s Sea Cliff neighborhood, which they sold for a reported $3.5 million in 2020, according to online records.

Owens, 79, has Parkinson’s disease and other illnesses, including bouts with cancer and “heart issues,” and gets around in a wheelchair. The Scottsdale property also has space for Laura Owens, an aspiring self-help podcaster and long-time equestrian, to care for her multiple horses.

The couple once enjoyed a life of privilege and celebrity in San Francisco. They had famous, influential friends, including Bay Area politicos and TV stars like Bob Saget. They were known to dine out most nights at some of San Francisco’s trendiest restaurants and to pay for top private schools for Laura and her older sister and for Laura’s expensive, horse-jumping hobby, which she continued until recently.

But Owens and Black are now fending off creditors and struggling to pay their monthly bills. The bankruptcy filing may make even devoted Owens’ fans ask how he and his wife could fall on such hard times.

It shows that they earn a combined monthly income of $21,000 — or some $252,000 a year. Some of that comes from Social Security payments but more than half comes from Owens’ pension. The couple also list $6,640 in monthly expenses — a figure that doesn’t include the $14,188 mortgage payment. The bankruptcy filing shows that they apparently stopped paying the mortgage and now owe up almost $1.7 million on the property. In a statement to this news organization, Black said the bankruptcy filing “stands as objective evidence of the reality of our financial challenges and the necessity of the GoFundMe fundraiser.”

But the filing also has raised new questions about the couple’s need for donations from fans. The GoFundMe campaign has thus far raised $131,000 from more than 1,500 donations, as the couple face accusations from the online “Justice for Clayton” community of YouTube journalists and Reddit sleuths, that the campaign is a scam. These people online have also said that the Owens family has long lived way beyond their means, while Ronn Owens and Jan Black should take responsibility for enabling their daughter’s costly legal imbroglios with these different men, who also have faced harm to their reputations in the process.