Attorney files motion to block expert in sperm donor case
Attorney says trial date should be upheld
Posted: October 30, 2014
By Jan Biles
THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL
An attorney representing a Topeka man who donated sperm to a lesbian couple and has been told he is subject to paying child support has filed a motion to try to block the state from calling an expert witness in the case.
Topeka attorney Benoit Swinnen, who filed the motion Wednesday in Shawnee County District Court on behalf of his client, William Marotta, said the Kansas Department for Children and Families has failed to disclose its experts in accordance to state statute.
A Ross hearing for the case has been set for Nov. 18 and 20. In a Ross hearing, the court determines whether it is in the child’s best interest to set aside a presumption of paternity in favor of a third party.
“Through circumstances I don’t quite understand, the court has jumped in and in an order said the state designated an expert, and I don’t know when or how that came about because I didn’t sign off on it,” Swinnen said.
Swinnen said the district court lacks authority to designate an expert on behalf of the state, and an expert designation is due 90 days before trial unless otherwise approved by the court. He contends no motion was filed seeking relief from the rules and he never received notification of the expert designation.
Swinnen said the hearing date has been set for several months and should be upheld. In the motion, he argues that the case should proceed without experts.
“All I want is, let’s get the facts and what’s in the best interest of the child,” he said. “It’s unfair to keep dragging this on and on when we have a trial date.”
A hearing on the motion has been set at 5:30 p.m. Monday in the Shawnee County Courthouse, 200 S.E. 7th.
The Kansas Department for Children and Families filed a case against Marotta in October 2012 seeking to have him declared the father of a girl born to Jennifer Schreiner in 2009.
Marotta opposed the action, saying he didn’t intend to be the child’s father, and that he had signed a contract waiving his parental rights and responsibilities while agreeing to donate sperm in a plastic cup to Schreiner and Angela Bauer, who was then her partner. Marotta contacted the women after they placed a Craigslist ad seeking a sperm donor.
Messages left with an attorney with the Department for Children and Families weren’t returned Thursday.