‘Special master’ expecting papers of Coretta King

A court-appointed “special master” on Wednesday was expecting boxes of materials left behind by the late Coretta Scott King, wading into a family feud over who controls the intimate letters between her and her late husband, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Both sides are watching closely to see if special master William B. Hill Jr., an attorney and former superior court judge in Atlanta, can help catalog letters, photos and other “intimate correspondence” in time for a judge to rule Friday. That’s the deadline Penguin Group has set for receiving papers that would be used in “The Autobiography of Coretta Scott King,” to be finished by a writer who amassed dozens of taped conversations with Coretta King beginning in the 1990s.

Backing the $1.4 million book contract is Dexter King, who negotiated the deal as head of King Inc., the company that controls the rights to his father’s works. His sister, Bernice King, doesn’t want to hand them over as administrator of their mother’s estate. She and brother Martin Luther King III say their mother wouldn’t approve of the co-writer, journalist-turned-minister Barbara Reynolds.

At a hearing Tuesday Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville said he must have a better idea of what materials are in dispute before he can consider King Inc.’s request for a temporary restraining order to force Bernice King to relinquish the papers.

Glanville tapped Hill, now a partner at Atlanta-based Ashe, Rafuse & Hill, to help the sides come together and inventory papers that might be covered.

Special masters are appointed to help carry out an order of the court in a range of cases.

Hill began his work Tuesday night, huddling with all three King siblings in a courthouse meeting room.

While words between the lawyers grew a little heated, the Kings spoke cordially, said Craig Frankel, an attorney for Dexter King.

Frankel said his client and King Inc. tried to make clear what documents they were after. Wednesday, boxes that may contain those papers were being transferred from a warehouse to Hill, he said.

Frankel said his side would like to see all those collected from Coretta King’s bedroom and around her desk. “Those are the obvious places to start,” he said.

Some of her materials gathered from the King Center in Atlanta also may be of interest, Frankel said. Dexter King and King Inc. maintain that any tangible or intellectual property that can be connected to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. is the property of King Inc. under an agreement signed by Coretta King and the King children in 1995.

Bernice King says her mother’s personal letters belong to her mother’s estate. She and Martin Luther King III say their brother went behind their backs in negotiating the Penguin book deal.

Their attorney, Jock Smith, has said letters and papers are mixed in with clothes and items belonging to Coretta King, so the process could take a while.