Attorney's girlfriend to get frozen sperm.A California appellate court A court having jurisdiction to review decisions of a trial-level or other lower court. An unsuccessful party in a lawsuit must file an appeal with an appellate court in order to have the decision reviewed. has ordered three vials of frozen sperm to be turned over to the girlfriend of an attorney who killed himself in 1991. (Kane v. Superior Court, No. B093747, 1995 Cal. App. LEXIS 842 (Cal. Ct. App. Aug. 28, 1995). The case involving the disposition of Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. attorney William Kane's sperm has spanned four years. His former wife, a sole practitioner, represented their two adult children who sought to block the passage of the sperm to Deborah Ellen Hecht, Kane's girlfriend. The children said they wanted the sperm destroyed. (Frozen Sperm Dispute Continues in California, TRIAL, Mar. 1993, at 15.) The feuding began shortly after Kane's October 1991 suicide when a state probate court probate court n. A court limited to the jurisdiction of probating wills and administering estates. Noun 1. probate court - a court having jurisdiction over the probate of wills and the administration of estates tried to figure out how to distribute property not accounted for in Kane's will. The children did not want Hecht to have the sperm because they believed she knew their father was going to kill himself and did nothing to stop him. They filed a separate wrongful death The taking of the life of an individual resulting from the willful or negligent act of another person or persons. If a person is killed because of the wrongful conduct of a person or persons, the decedent's heirs and other beneficiaries may file a wrongful death action tort action that was later dismissed. Hecht argued that Kane meant for her to have the sperm and said he signed documents at California Cryobank cryobank /cryo·bank/ (kri´o-bank?) a facility for freezing and preserving semen at low temperatures (usually -196.5° C.) for future use. cry·o·bank n. , a Los Angeles sperm bank sperm bank Reproduction medicine A registered tissue bank that collects, stores, tests, and sells frozen sperm to be used for artificial insemination. See Artificial insemination. , authorizing release of the vials to Hecht or her physician. Kane had deposited the sperm only weeks before his death. After many appeals and legal scrapping between the parties, the case--in the end--turned on the ticking ticking a coat color pigmentation pattern in which hairs of one color are distributed in small groups throughout the background color, e.g. Australian cattle dog. Called also speckling. of Hecht's biological dock. In April 1994, the probate court ruled that Hecht was entitled to 20 percent, or three, of the 15 vials containing Kane's frozen sperm. Kane's children appealed, effectively staying that order. Ultimately, the California Court of Appeal had the last word. It found on August 28, 1995, that because Hecht was now past 40 years old she faced "imminent injury to, or loss of, her opportunity to conceive a child" if she had to wait for resolution of the appeal. The court lifted the stay and ordered the sperm to be turned over to Hecht. Kane's children and their mother, who was divorced from Kane in 1976, have said they will not appeal the decision. |
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