L.A.L., PETITIONER,
v.
D.A.L., RESPONDENT

Fla. 2d DCA | 1998-07-10
No. 98-00941
PATTERSON, A.C.J., and FULMER and CASANUEVA, JJ., concur.
714 So. 2d 595 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (1998) Caution
Cited by 10 cases

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Holding

The court held that the trial court erred by ordering paternity testing before resolving the enforceability of the contract and the applicability of the statute relinquishing parental rights.


Headnotes

[1] A trial court must determine the applicability of statutory provisions and the enforceability of a contract before ordering scientific testing to establish paternity in a…

[2] A statute relinquishing all parental rights and obligations for sperm donors applies to the donation and resulting children, regardless of biological parentage.

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Facts & Procedural History

A sperm donor and recipient entered into a contract where the donor would have no parental rights or obligations. After the recipient gave birth, the …

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Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

D.A.L. (donor) and L.A.L. (recipient) entered into a contract whereby the donor would provide sperm to recipient with the expectation that she would become pregnant through artificial insemination and deliver offspring. The agreement provided that if childbirth resulted, the donor would have no parental rights and obligations associated with the delivery, and both parties would be foreclosed from establishing those rights and obligations by the institution of an aetion to determine the paternity of any such child or children. Notwithstanding the clear language of the contract, after the recipient gave birth to twin boys the donor filed an action in circuit court seeking to establish paternity and an award of those rights associated with it. In defense of the action, the recipient alleged that the contract barred such an action, that section 742.14, Florida Statutes (1997), disallowed sperm donors any parental rights, and that the donor was not in fact the biological father of the children.

The recipient filed a motion for summary judgment, presumably asserting the first two of these defenses, which to-date has not been heard by the trial court. Instead, the trial court elected to hear a motion filed by the donor requesting that the parties and the children first submit to scientific testing to determine paternity pursuant to section 742.12, Florida Statutes (1997).

Following a lengthy hearing, the trial judge entered an order requiring the parties to submit to this testing, while acknowledging that the court had not yet ruled upon the applicability of section 742.14 or upon the enforceability of the contract entered into between the parties which by its terms prohibited either of them from instituting a paternity action in the first instance. The recipient filed with this court a petition for writ of certiorari challenging the order requiring scientific testing. We grant that petition, quash the order requiring the parties to submit to testing at this time, and direct the trial court to determine the applicability of section 742.14 and the enforceability of the contract before reaching any factual resolution of the question surrounding the biological fatherhood of the twin boys.

Section 742.14, entitled “Donation of eggs, sperm or preembryos,” reads:

The donor of any egg, sperm, or preem-bryo, other than the commissioning couple or a father who has executed a preplanned adoption agreement under s. 63.212, shall relinquish all maternal or paternal rights and obligations with respect to the donation or the resulting children. Only reasonable compensation directly related to the donation of eggs, sperm, and preembr-yos shall be permitted.

Should the trial court decide that this statute is constitutionally applicable to the facts in the underlying litigation, the donor, whether or not he is scientifically determined to be the biological parent of these boys, will be foreclosed from all parental rights, including his access to the children.

The agreement which the donor signed in 1994 provides in part:

DONOR ... will not demand, request, or compel any guardianship, custody, or visitation right with any ehild(ren) born as a result of this artificial insemination procedure. Further, DONOR acknowledges that he fully understands that he will not have any paternal rights whatsoever with said children_ Each party acknowledges and agrees that there shall be no father named on the birth certificate of any children) born as a result of the artificial insemination procedure.... Each party acknowledges and agrees that this AGREEMENT has been executed for the purpose of clarifying her or his intent to release and relinquish any and all rights she or he may have to bring a suit to establish the paternity of an[y] child(ren) bom as a result of the artificial insemination procedure.

(Emphasis added.)

Similarly, if the clear intent of the parties to this agreement is enforced by the trial court, the donor’s paternity action will be unsuccessful as he waived his right to institute such a proceeding when he entered into this contract.

With that background, at this stage we fail to see how any interests, including the children’s, will be served by a scientific test to determine if the donor is in fact the biological father. In fact, we conclude that requiring these tests, should the donor ultimately fail on the key issue of establishing his right to paternity, will disserve the interests of these minor twin boys and their mother. Whether any biological connection exists between the donor and these boys is unquestionably irrelevant to the proceedings at this juncture.

We hold that the trial court’s order departs from the essential requirements of law which will result in a miscarriage of justice. See Haines City Community Development v. Heggs, 658 So. 2d 523 (Fla.1995).

Only at such time as the trial court determines that section 724.14 does not apply to these parties, and that the agreement between the parties is unenforceable, may inquiry be undertaken to ascertain the accuracy of the recipient’s allegation that the donor is not in fact the biological father. The recipient entered into this arrangement with the donor armed with statutory authority and a legal agreement which she relied upon to prevent unmasking the identity of her twin boys’ paternity by scientific testing. She is entitled to rely on both of these until the trial court concludes that this reliance was legally ill-advised.

Our certiorari jurisdiction to review pretrial orders is confined to those matters for which there is no adequate remedy available on appeal. See Parkway Bank v. Fort Myers Armature Works, Inc., 658 So. 2d 646 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995). The order requiring testing and disclosure of the results is incapable of meaningful review on direct appeal from any judgment which may be entered. See Martin-Johnson, Inc. v. Savage, 509 So. 2d 1097 (Fla.1987). Accordingly, we grant certiorari, quash the subject order, and direct the circuit court to proceed with this paternity litigation in a manner consistent with this opinion.

PATTERSON, A.C.J., and FULMER and CASANUEVA, JJ., concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • D.M.T. v. T.M.H., 129 So. 3d 320 (Fla. 2013)
    …claim to parental rights because the mother and father “did not commission or contract to jointly raise the children as mother and father” but instead “joined forces solely for the purpose of artificially inseminating” the mother); L.A.L. v. D.A.L., 714 So. 2d 595, 596-97 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998) (granting a petition for writ of certiorari and directing the trial court to determine the applicability of section 742.14 where the mother and father had entered into an agreement regarding the use of assisted reproductiv…
    1 / 2
  • T.M.H. v. D.M.T., 79 So. 3d 787 (Fla. 5th DCA 2011)
    …t suggests that Mr. Lucas individually executed a consent form similar to the one executed solely by Appellant. The opinion clearly states that " 'D.A.L. (donor) and L.A.L. (recipient) entered into a contract,'” id. at 318 (quoting L.A.L. v. D.A.L., 714 So. 2d 595, 596 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998)); a contract is an agreement between two parties, the only agreement between Appellant and Appellee is that they would be equal parental partners to the child, and they both complied widr that agreement for several years afte…
  • Southwick v. State, 750 So. 2d 32 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998)
    …ties and the child, we likewise hold that Southwick has no adequate remedy on appeal and that certiorari jurisdiction was established. See Parkway Bank v. Fort Myers Armature Works, Inc., 658 So. 2d 646 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995); see also L.A.L. v. D.A.L., 714 So. 2d 595, 597 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998); Department of Revenue v. Byrd, 710 So. 2d 1036, 1037 (Fla. 1st DCA 1998). We grant the petition for certiorari, quash the order of the trial court mandating additional testing, and direct the trial court to dismiss this pat…

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