Enriquez v. Velazquez

Two unmarried friends conceived a child through an at-home artificial insemination process; the biological father petitioned to establish paternity and timesharing, and the trial court, raising the issue sua sponte just before closing argument, dismissed the petition with prejudice on the theory that section 742.14, Florida Statutes, made him a 'sperm donor' who relinquished all parental rights. The Fifth DCA reversed, holding that, read in pari materia with the definitions in section 742.13 and consistent with D.M.T. v. T.M.H., section 742.14 applies only where the child was conceived through 'assisted reproductive technology' involving laboratory handling of eggs or preembryos, which did not occur here. The court remanded with directions to enter judgment establishing the appellant as the legal father and to adjudicate timesharing and the other stipulated issues. Judge Sasso dissented, urging a supremacy-of-text reading of 'any donor' and would have certified conflict with the Second District's A.A.B. v. B.O.C.

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