Actress Sofia Vergara has won a huge legal battle with her ex, Nick Loeb, concerning frozen embryos.
The two had a two-year relationship from 2012, during which they opted to do in vitro fertilization hoping to impregnate a surrogate, producing two fertilized embryos that were stored at a medical clinic in California.
After they ended their relationship, Loeb filed a lawsuit for custody of the embryos, but it was later dropped.
Afterward, he filed the lawsuit once again in Louisiana, where it was dismissed by a judge who said the court could not be of help because the embryos were conceived on the territory of California.
Later, in December 2016, Loeb was sued by his ex, who sought a court order declaring that any attempts on his side to use the embryos would violate a contract the couple had signed.
According to TMZ, recently an LA County Superior Court blocked Loeb from using the embryos with a surrogate without Vergara consenting to it in writing.
Sofia Vergara files to block Nick Loeb's lawyer from embryos case https://t.co/tS14PE26uE pic.twitter.com/12av3qMRlL
— Page Six (@PageSix) February 26, 2021
The court found that in 2013, the couple had signed a contract with a clinic, and for any future action taken with the embryos, both of them must consent.
According to NBC News, in February, the Los Angeles court dismissed Loeb’s argument that the contract does not uphold California law because it does not dictate what is to happen in case of separation.
“The court… makes a judicial determination that the form directive entered by the parties on Nov. 6, 2013 is a valid enforceable contract,’” Judge Rafael Ongkeko said.
Actress Sofia Vergara has won a legal battle against her ex-fiance Nick Loeb in a years-long custody battle over frozen embryos. pic.twitter.com/Zw48WXM1ci
— The Morning Show (@morningshowon7) March 3, 2021
In addition, Loeb says he has signed the contract under pressure after his ex had ‘yelled and screamed’ at him.
But the court ruled in favor of Vergara, whose attorneys said that Loeb had gone through a ‘prior round of [in vitro fertilisation], so it wasn’t as if Mr. Loeb was in some unfamiliar situation’.
A court has sided with Sofia Vergara, granting her request for a Permanent Injunction and preventing her ex from using the frozen embryos.https://t.co/niNLQe1Pg8
— 9Honey Celebrity (@9HoneyCelebrity) March 3, 2021
In an interview with Fox News, Loeb recently said he would be appealing the court’s decision.
Vergara has also sought the help of a Louisiana court to strip Loeb’s attorney from being able to practice in the state. According to Page Six, she claimed attorney Jalesia McQueen had made ‘false statements in pleadings’ by stating that Loeb lived in the New Orleans–Metairie area, ‘when Mr. Loeb and his counsel knew the statements to be false’.
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