Sperm donor case to be decided by summary judgment

A lawyer is appointed to represent birth mother in Craigslist case

Posted: April 9, 2013 

 

By Steve Fry

THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

 

The Craigslist case in which a Topeka man donated sperm to a same-sex couple to have a baby likely will be resolved by a partial summary judgment issued by a judge, according to  remarks in Shawnee County District Court on Tuesday.

 

District Court Judge Mary Mattivi appointed an attorney on Tuesday to represent the birth mother.

 

In the case, the state of Kansas contends William Marotta, a Topeka man who answered a Craigslist advertisement in which two Topeka women were seeking a sperm donor, is a father owing child support for a 3-year-old girl.

 

Marotta and the female couple contest that assertion, saying he provided the sperm and simply is a sperm donor and has no financial responsibility to the child.

 

The state contends Marotta, Angela Bauer and Jennifer Schreiner didn't follow Kansas law, which requires a physician to perform the artificial insemination in order for Marotta to be considered a sperm donor.

 

In this case, Bauer did the artificial insemination on Schreiner "at home implementing a syringe and catheter purchased at a local medical supply store," a state attorney wrote in an earlier court filing.

 

Neither Marotta nor the women, Bauer and Schreiner, the biological mother of the child, were in court Tuesday.

On Tuesday, Mattivi appointed Jennifer Berger, a family law attorney in Topeka, to represent Schreiner, who is to be deposed April 26.

 

Benoit Swinnen, Marotta's attorney, suggested appointing an attorney for Schreiner, and Timothy Keck, a co-counsel for the Kansas Department for Children and Families, agreed.

 

Mattivi said Tuesday that in her order issued Friday, she wants the parties to tell her whether Marotta is the "sperm donor, what his status is," and that will focus the case on where it needs to go.

 

Through Bauer's attorney, Joe Booth, of Lenexa, Bauer has contended a Kansas Court of Appeals ruling in March and a Kansas Supreme Court ruling in February show Bauer has a right to be a parent under the law.

 

Bauer is seeking to intervene as a party in the state's action against Marotta.

 

But on Friday, Mattivi froze Bauer's motion to intervene in the case.

 

Mattivi's order also put on hold a request for genetic testing sought by DCF.

 

On Tuesday, Swinnen filed a motion asking the judge to reconsider her ruling freezing Bauer's motion to intervene.

 

In the motion is a copy of a two-page sperm donor contract signed by Marotta, Schreiner and Bauer in which Marotta gives up his paternal rights, and the women release him from making child support payments. The contract was signed March 30, 2009, according to the paperwork.

 

By May 17, attorneys for the state are to file a motion asking Mattivi to decide the case with a partial summary judgment.

 

Attorneys will submit a proposed scheduling order to Mattivi to sign by the end of the week.