Posted on 02/25/2005 7:56:06 PM PST by CarrotAndStick
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.
Dr. Richard O. 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 (euro603) a month in child support, said Irons' attorney, Enrico Mirabelli.
Phillips sued Irons, claiming he has had trouble sleeping and eating and has been haunted by “feelings of being trapped in a nightmare,'' court papers state.
Irons responded that her alleged actions weren't “truly extreme and outrageous'' and that Phillips' pain wasn't bad enough to merit a lawsuit. The circuit court agreed and dismissed Phillips' lawsuit in 2003.
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.''
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.''
Phillips is representing himself in the case. He could not be reached for comment Thursday.
“There's a 5-year-old child here,'' Mirabelli said. ``Imagine how a child feels when your father says he feels emotionally damaged by your birth.''
This is a FR favorite. Hmmmm....wonder why. I know! I know! But this is a family website :o)
In this age of Clinton Past and Clinton To Be, I am not sure that there any more "family" websites.
Oh my lord! This world has gone mad ... the gift that keeps on the giving ..(forgive me . I tried, but I couldn't resist;-(
Did you ever think you'd live to see a porn spoof of the white house? :(
this has [JUST DAMN] stamped in triplicate all over it.
Talk about airing their dirty laundry....such lack of shame is ...mmmmmmm
mind-blowing?
Well, just keep 'em coming.
So, . . . he still has to pay child support???
The moral of this story is.... make sure they swallow!
"she secretly kept semen after they had oral sex, then used it to get pregnant."
These two deserve each other. But the poor kid, what a heritage....this ain't exactly coming to Plymouth Rock on the Wallflower, nope.
No wallflowers and no Puritans here....
Bill Clinton's real legacy: Spit, Swallow or Baste?
NEVER give your sperm to anyone else.
Just make sure they understand it's a LOAN.
Has anyone checked this with snopes?
Play with fire expect to be burned.
Maybe they were both preparing their oral arguments.
Play with fire expect to be burned.
What we have here, Enrico, is a failure to copulate.
Well, considering in this case it might have the value of a couple of hundred thousand dollars worth of child support over 18 years, then if it is a gift with a fair market value over $11,000 he would be required to file a Gift Tax return with the IRS.
What lawyer/judge would have ever thought that all those years in school would have led to this!
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