The Quebec clinic Ovo, specializing in assisted procreation, is being sued by a man who claims that his sperm was used without his consent by his ex-wife. He blames the company for being negligent.
This story has occupied the Quebec courts since 2016 and will occupy it for a few more years. So many underlying issues had to be resolved first that a trial date on the merits of the case has not yet been set.
The suit was filed in 2016. The man*, who is suing Ovo and his ex-wife, is seeking 1.47 million in damages. This sum, he alleges, is intended to cover the use of his sperm without his authorization and the alimony claimed from him for the child born from the intervention.
The man and woman got married in 2011. The man already had five children from previous unions. (Legally, he no longer has a filiation with the last two, who were adopted by another man in 1976.)
In the months following the marriage, the man provides a sample of his sperm to Ovo so that his partner can undergo in vitro fertilization treatment.
In 2014, nothing is going well. The couple separates. “This is the start of a cascade of appeals in Quebec and abroad,” summarizes Judge Bernard Jolin in one of the decisions.
The man claims to have not had sexual relations with his wife since April 2014. However, in May 2015, in Cyprus, his ex-wife gave birth to a healthy daughter. The birth of the child is registered with the Principality of Monaco. In official documents, the ex-husband is identified as the father.
The woman had called on the Élite company, established in Geneva, Switzerland, an agency which does not do insemination or in vitro fertilization, but which acts as an intermediary and which notably found an egg donor for the woman .
The conception therefore took place with the donation of an egg from another woman and with the sperm of the pursuer. The plaintiff claims that his signature was forged and that he never authorized the transfer of his sperm sample from Ovo to the Genesis Clinic, where the medical procedure was performed.
In his suit against his ex-wife and against Ovo, the man accuses the former of falsifying documents in order to procreate with his sperm. He also accuses Ovo of having been negligent in not adequately verifying the identity of the signatory and of not having adequately safeguarded his debit.
A very complicated cause
This whole cause is complicated, among other things, by the fact that the man died in 2019 and that two of his children took over the case.
The three assisted reproduction companies involved also argued over their respective responsibilities. Ovo argued, for example, that the company that served as an intermediary, Elite IVF, as well as the company where the fertilization was carried out, Genesis, should both have ensured the man’s consent.
In the most recent decision in this case, on September 5, the Court of Appeal rejected the case against Élite, who is therefore no longer worried. On the other hand, Genesis (which performed the medical intervention) will have to continue to defend itself from any liability.
In a telephone interview, David Sher, founder and president of the Elite IVF firm, said he was relieved that the Court of Appeal had put an end to the dispute regarding his company’s involvement. Even though the lawsuit was filed in 2016, he predicts that this case, which is truly “very complicated,” will still take a long time to reach its legal conclusion.
“In 20 years of service,” Mr. Sher says his company has never been involved in such a story, which shook him enough to make sure to tighten his controls.
Ovo did not provide us with their comments, nor did Genesis or the family.
* To protect the child in question, The Press chose not to name either the child or his parents.
With the collaboration of Judith Lachapelle, The Press