Lawsuit: Sperm bank gave woman ex-boyfriend's semen to get pregnant
HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A man is suing his ex-girlfriend in a Harris County civil courtroom, saying she illegally stole his sperm and had a baby with it.
"Salt just continues to go into the open wound just every day. It's the ultimate. I don't think you can do anything worse in society today," said Layne Hardin.
Hardin had vasectomy years ago, but decided he and Kathy LeBlanc, who is the mother of his first son, might want to have more kids later. So, he froze several vials of his sperm and says he wrote up a contract saying, no matter what happened, the sperm would go to LeBlanc.
Then, Hardin and LeBlanc broke up.
Hardin started dating another woman, named Tobie Devall. The two of them went to the sperm bank at least once together. Then, she went by herself, picked up the sperm, and got pregnant with it.
Devall says she had Hardin's permission to do so, but Hardin says she didn't.
Now, Hardin and LeBlanc are suing both Devall and the sperm bank.
"They properly prepare the sperm and give it to the patient as normally done when women want to get pregnant," said James Edwards, who represents Texas Andrology Services. "You don't go back over and over again and say, 'Hey, did you change your mind?'"
Hardin and Devall's son is now five years old. Hardin has never seen him.
The trial begins Tuesday and is expected to last two weeks.
Devall's attorney declined to speak to Eyewitness News about this case.
