Court: Man Can Sue Over Surprise Pregnancy (but sperm are hers to keep)

[papau]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=716&e=7&u=/ap/20050224/ap_on_re_us/sperm_theft

Court: Man Can Sue Over Surprise Pregnancy

Thu Feb 24,12:55 PM ET U.S. National - AP



CHICAGO - An appeals court said a man can press a claim for emotional distress after learning a former lover had used his sperm to have a baby. But he can't claim theft, the ruling said, because the sperm were hers to keep.

The ruling Wednesday by the Illinois Appellate Court sends Dr. Richard O. Phillips' distress case back to trial court.

Phillips accuses Dr. Sharon Irons of a "calculated, profound personal betrayal" after their affair six years ago, saying she secretly kept semen after they had oral sex, then used it to get pregnant.


He said he didn't find out about the child for nearly two years, when Irons filed a paternity lawsuit. DNA tests confirmed Phillips was the father, the court papers state.

Phillips was ordered to pay about $800 a month in child support, said Irons' attorney, Enrico Mirabelli. <snip>

But the higher court ruled that, if Phillips' story is true, Irons "deceitfully engaged in sexual acts, which no reasonable person would expect could result in pregnancy, to use plaintiff's sperm in an unorthodox, unanticipated manner yielding extreme consequences." <snip>

[LoZoccolo]

1. The woman sounds like a real head case.

This is overall a fucked-up situation, because under no circumstances do I think the guy should have to support the child, but then again, a woman that manipulative should not be a mother. Bad news all around.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

2. Hmmmm..this will get interesting

I think I would have rather the court found for fraud since technically men will now be able to sue for emotional distress if a woman forgets to take her birth control pills and gets pregnant since the language cites reasonable expectation and one would have a reasonable expectation that birth control pills should work.

The female in this particular case, however, sounds like something right out of Fatal Attraction.

[papau]

3. scary - but court ruling seems a bit off also - he pays support - but gets

money for emotional distress?

I would hate to be on the jury.