Do Embryos Have the Right to File Lawsuit?

Actress Sofia Vergara and her former boyfriend find themselves in a lawsuit involving frozen embryos.

The details of the strange case of actress Sofia Vergara, her former boyfriend and some frozen embryos was explained recently in the Daily Beast "Sofia Vergara Embryo Case Could Open Floodgates."

It seems that Vergara and former boyfriend Nick Loeb have been involved in a court case over two frozen embryos, with Loeb seeking to have the embryos brought to term.

Loeb dropped his case but a party unrelated to either of them has now filed a new case in Louisiana to have the embryos brought to term. It purports to be brought by the embryos themselves. A trust appears to have been created in Louisiana, specifically for this purpose because that state has an old law that grants legal personhood to embryos.

While this lawsuit appears to face long odds of success, nothing can be said for certain since it is a matter of first impression for the courts. If the lawsuit does succeed, it could have important and far reaching implications for estate law.

For example, if a wealthy person passes away after going through the process of freezing embryos, could any third party then sue to have those embryos brought to term? If so, then would those children be considered the heirs of the deceased entitled to a share of the estate, even if the deceased had no wish to have more children when he or she passed away?

Those questions would have to be answered by other courts.

Reference: Daily Beast (Dec. 8, 2016) "Sofia Vergara Embryo Case Could Open Floodgates."