In a landmark case involving an unintended surrogacy, Partner Eric Wrubel, Matrimonial and Family Law Department chair, was successful in providing the legal basis for the genetic parents to be declared the legal parents of children carried and born of another couple.
07/17/2019In the nationally featured case where the embryos of two separate couples were each mistakenly implanted in the woman of a third couple, and where each couple had intended to carry their own child to term so that no surrogacy was intended, Eric Wrubel, Partner and Chair of the firm’s Matrimonial and Family Law Practice argued nuanced legal theories that resulted in the biological parents being united with the children even though such children were gestated by another couple.
The case – groundbreaking for New York where compensated surrogacy is against the State’s public policy – focused upon the definition of family in America and how that definition has been evolving since the recognition of same-sex marriage and the advances made in alternative reproductive technology. The legal theory posited by Wrubel was an outgrowth of the principles from his 2016 NY Court of Appeals case which led to the expansion of the definition of parent which finally recognized LGBTQ families are created with the help of third parties. Marriage equality, the changing definition of family (including acknowledgment of tri-custody arrangements) and the expansion of rights to LGBTQ families allowed Wrubel to make the wining argument in this case. Eric Wrubel has been at the forefront of these cases in New York.
Eric Wrubel has been at the forefront of family law cases in New York.
Media Coverage
Above the Law:
https://abovethelaw.com/2019/07/some-positivity-among-the-horrible-embryo-mix-up-case/
The Atlantic Monthly:
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/07/ivf-embryo-mix-up-parenthood/593725/
New York Post:
https://nypost.com/2019/07/13/mom-whose-embryo-was-wrongly-implanted-in-queens-woman-tells-all/
USA Today:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/parenting/2019/07/10/ivf-mix-up-second-couple-involved-alleged-baby-mix-up-sues-clinic/1694269001/
The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/07/10/they-thought-their-embryo-didnt-take-then-their-son-was-born-stranger-across-country-lawsuit-claims/?utm_term=.b3bf44a89c25
