Netflix must pay $385K to woman exposed as fertility doctor's secret child: court
A federal court in Indianapolis has ordered Netflix to pay $385,000 to an Indiana woman it outed as the daughter of Donald Cline, a former fertility doctor who secretly used his own sperm to inseminate patients.
Related video: Fertility doctor avoids jail time after admitting to secretly impregnating patients
INDIANAPOLIS (WIXN) — A federal court in Indianapolis has ordered Netflix to pay $385,000 to an Indiana woman it outed as the daughter of Donald Cline, a former fertility doctor who secretly used his own sperm to inseminate patients.
The woman filed a complaint against the streaming giant in Marion County Superior Court back in 2022, alleging she was exposed without her consent as one of Cline's secret children in the Netflix documentary, "Our Father."
Per the original complaint, the woman's photo and name appeared in the film.
Her attorneys claimed the documentary's producers promised anonymity to Cline's secret children who did not want to be identified during the film.
The woman's attorneys also alleged that the photographs and names of several other secret children were blurred in the documentary, but she was not given those same protections.
Per the complaint, the woman suffered "severe harm" to her reputation. She also claimed to have been distressed, embarrassed and emotionally traumatized by the documentary.
Beyond being outed in the film, the woman was also identified in social media posts promoting the documentary, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit initially included two women, but the jury awarded compensatory damages to only one plaintiff. While it ruled in favor of Netflix regarding the second woman, court documents provided little explanation of the reasoning behind the differing decisions.
Court records filed Friday indicate the jury reached their verdict on Thursday.
The documentary at the center of the lawsuit examined the case of Cline and his secret children. The film came after a 2016 investigative report by Nexstar's WXIN revealed Cline had used his own sperm to impregnate women who were patients at his clinic.
The report also indicated that Cline lied to some of his patients about the source of the sperm he used to impregnate them. In an interview with WXIN, Cline estimated that he had used his own sperm for insemination 50 times.
Cline, who was 79, pleaded guilty to two counts of obstruction of justice in 2017. However, he did not face charges for the inseminations themselves because, at the time, there was no law in Indiana prohibiting fertility doctors from using their own sperm. Instead, Cline was only charged for lying to investigators during the case.
Even still, he avoided prison time and received a one-year suspended sentence, which placed him on probation. The judge cited Cline's advanced age and his remorse.
Following the scandal, Indiana lawmakers passed legislation in 2019 that provides legal recourse to victims of fertility fraud. The law makes misrepresentation related to a medical procedure or human reproductive material a felony. It also allows victims to file a civil lawsuit against a doctor within five years of discovering they’re a victim of fertility fraud or a defendant’s confession.
Cline eventually ended up paying more than $1.3 million in various civil suits, though.
The jury in the case involving Netflix and one of Cline's secret children has been discharged and released, as its final judgment has been declared.
Kristen Eskow and Ashleigh Jackson contributed to this report.
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