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The dispute arises over copyright renewal proceeds for 60 published and copyrighted songs written or performed by country and western singer Hank Williams (Williams, Sr.), who died intestate on January 1, 1953, at the age of 29. P was born on January 6, 1953, in Alabama, five days after Williams, Sr. died. Bobbie Jett was pregnant with her in October of 1952. She and Williams, Sr. executed an agreement under which he acknowledged that he might be the father but specifically did not admit paternity. The agreement provided that Williams, Sr., pay Bobbie Jett for P's support, and placed the infant's custody until age 2 in Lillian Williams Stone, mother of Williams, Sr., who was present at the drafting and the execution of the agreement together with the two principals. Lillian Stone adopted P. Mrs. Stone cared for P until she died in 1955. P became a ward of the State of Alabama, and at age three in 1956, a foster child of the Deupree family. The Deuprees adopted her in 1959. Williams, Sr. had a son, Hank Williams, Jr. The assignment of Hank Williams, Jr.'s copyright interests in his father's music generated litigation in 1967. That court appointed a guardian ad litem, attorney Drayton Hamilton, to ascertain any unknown potential heirs to the Williams' estate and to represent their interests. Hamilton concluded that the only such person was P. P's adoptive family asked Hamilton to leave her out of the 1967 proceedings, because they thought it unlikely that she would win and were worried that their then 14-year-old daughter would be subjected to embarrassing publicity because of her status as the illegitimate child of a famous country western singer. P was kept in the dark. Hamilton zealously litigated P's interests. The court determined that Hank Williams, Jr. was the sole heir of his father, and further held that P, as a natural child who had been adopted by another family, had no rights in any proceeds from the Williams, Sr.'s songs or their renewal rights. In 1973, shortly before P's 21st birthday, Mrs. Deupree told her of the rumors regarding the identity of her natural father, but added that everything had been decided against her. P had been entitled to a small inheritance from Williams, Sr.'s mother, Lillian Stone. P picked up her inheritance check and began to discover the truth. P did not expeditiously pursue the matter. In 1980, her adoptive father spilled the beans. P met with attorney Hamilton, her former guardian ad litem. Eventually, P filed the original declaratory judgment complaint on September 12, 1985. P sought her share of the copyright revenue and claimed that Ds committed a conspiracy to defraud her. The district court granted Ds’ motion for summary judgment based on laches. P appealed.

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