Fatherhood by deceit
A court of appeals in Illinois was faced with a novel legal theory: Man and girlfriend have oral sex. Unbeknownst to man, girlfriend saves the sperm, and the uses it to get pregnant. Man finds out 2 years later and claims to be emotionally devastated about becoming a father unexpectedly. The court determines that the man can at least pursue his claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress:
The judges backed the lower court decision to dismiss the fraud and theft claims, agreeing with Irons that she didn’t steal the sperm.
“She asserts that when plaintiff ‘delivered’ his sperm, it was a gift - an absolute and irrevocable transfer of title to property from a donor to a donee,” the decision said. “There was no agreement that the original deposit would be returned upon request.”
[T]he 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.”
Link.
More on this story at Three Sheets to the Wind.
