Lawyer seeks to withdraw from sperm donor case
Topeka attorney Swinnen says his law firm has closed
Posted: June 1, 2015
By Tim Hrenchir
THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL
Benoit Swinnen has asked that he be allowed to withdraw as legal counsel for William Marotta, whom the state of Kansas contends is legally the father of a 5-year-old girl born after he donated sperm in a plastic cup to a Topeka same-sex couple.
Shawnee County District Court records indicate Swinnen on May 19 filed the motion, which indicated that Swinnen’s law firm has closed and attorney Charles Baylor would continue to be a counsel of record for Marotta.
Swinnen told The Capital-Journal Tuesday: “My withdrawal is simply a result of a career change and my growing family. I am the executive director of an agency that provides services to adults with intellectual disabilities.”
District Judge Mary Mattivi ordered in April that Marotta undergo genetic testing to determine if he is the girl’s biological father.
The Kansas Department for Families and Children since October 2012 has been pursuing the case, in which it is seeking to have Marotta declared the father so he can be forced to pay child support regarding the girl Jennifer Schreiner bore in 2009.
Marotta said he didn’t intend to be the child’s father and signed a contract waiving his parental rights and responsibilities while agreeing to donate sperm to Schreiner and Angela Bauer. Marotta contacted the women after they placed an ad seeking a sperm donor on Craigslist.
Mattivi ruled in January 2014 the contract was moot because Schreiner and Bauer didn’t follow a Kansas statute enacted in 1994, which Mattivi said requires a licensed physician to perform the artificial insemination in cases involving sperm donors.