VANCOUVER, B.C. (CN) — Parents of four more children have sued Xytex Corp., bringing to 13 the number of lawsuits accusing Xytex of fraudulently misrepresenting the background of a sperm donor who turned out to be a mentally ill felon.
The newest plaintiffs, A.A., B.B., and C.C., claim in British Columbia Supreme Court that Xytex touted the donor as a healthy man with an IQ of 160, working on a Ph.D.
A.A. had her child in 2008, while B.B. and C.C. had three children from the same donor, one born in 2008 and two in 2011.
B.B. and C.C. say they reached out to other families who had conceived using the semen of "Donor No. 9623" and met with them in the United States. They put together a photo album of the trip and Xytex sent it to the donor, and later revealed the man's identity by accidentally cc'ing him on an email to a recipient family.
Through the accidental disclosure of the man's name, James Christian Aggeles, the families say they discovered through "basic Internet research" that Aggeles had lied about his background and that Xytex "had not followed its screening procedures."
The families say Aggeles is a mentally ill felon with schizophrenia and narcissistic personality disorder who suffered from "significant grandiose delusions." They say that Aggeles slipped through Xytex's screening process without follow-ups and was never asked to verify his medical or criminal history.
"Xytex promoted Aggeles as a man of high integrity who was extremely intelligent and well-educated," the new complaints state. "A simple Google search would have revealed Aggeles' arrest history, and the publically accessible documents that showed that Aggeles had been arrested and hospitalized for mental health reasons, and that he had been diagnosed with serious mental illnesses."
The plaintiffs claim at least 36 children have been born using Aggeles' sperm from the clinic.
The Courthouse News database includes lawsuits from 14 parents or sets of parents, in four states, in addition to the new claims from British Columbia.
The newest parents seek general, special, punitive, aggravated, and exemplary damages for fraud, negligence, and misrepresentation. The defendants include Xytex, Genesis Fertility Centre, and Xytex employee Mary Hartley.
The parents are represented by Peter R. Senkpiel, with Nathanson, Schachter & Thompson.
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