Netflix Gets Mixed Verdict in Invasion of Privacy Trial Over ‘Our Father’ Documentary
An Indiana jury has found in favor of a woman who sued Netflix for revealing her identity in a 2022 documentary about a doctor who secretly fathered dozens of children through fraudulent fertility treatments.
Lori Kennard was awarded $385,000 for invasion of privacy related to the momentary disclosure of her name in Our Father. But in a split verdict delivered on Thursday evening, the jury sided with Netflix and against Sarah Bowling, another woman who sued under the same claim but was found to have disclosed her relationship as the doctor’s daughter.
More from The Hollywood Reporter
The documentary, released in 2022, explores former Indianapolis-based fertility doctor Donald Cline, who used his sperm 1970s and 80s to impregnate dozens of patients without their knowledge. The women were told that the donors he used were medical residents and that he used each donor for only three successful pregnancies. At least 94 children are believed to have been fathered by the doctor. In 2015, Cline’s crimes were uncovered after several of his now-adult children took DNA tests on 23andMe.
Several of the children participated in the title, but a trio of women sued Netflix as Jane Does shortly after it was released for outing them as Cline’s children. Kennard’s name is shown for roughly one second in the periphery of a scene when a documentary subject is scrolling through her list of 23andMe matches. The names of Bowling and another woman, who’s claims were barred from proceeding to trial, are collectively shown for more than ten seconds in two scenes and a trailer in a similar fashion.
Their names were blurred less than two weeks after the documentary’s release. By that time, more than 18 million viewers had watched the title, according to the complaint.
“This is a precedential verdict,” said Robert MacGill, a lawyer for the women. “It demonstrates how Americans can protect against invasions of privacy by filmmakers and film distributors.”
Netflix declined to comment.
During the trial, Bowling testified that she had reached out to a producer on the documentary. Netflix argued that the disclosure undermined her invasion of privacy claim. Her mom had also posted on Facebook about Cline.
It’s believed that the jury awarded damages for emotional distress under the claim for public disclosure of private facts but not for injury to Kennard’s privacy interests.
“Future cases will surely involve a separate damages component for harm to privacy,” said MacGill, who noted that at least a dozen lawyers for Netflix were in court during proceedings.
Earlier this week, the court barred punitive damages, which is typically awarded to deter malicious conduct in the future.
Netflix in 2020 purchased Our Father from RealHouse. It provided creative feedback to the filmmakers but relied on RealHouse to evaluate any legal issues with content. The deal was conditioned upon approval by Alonzo Wickers, among the most preeminent legal clearance lawyers in the entertainment industry. He said he took a “more conservative” approach to clearing the documentary because “look[ed] across state lines” and implicated “uncertainty or openness in an area of law.” The materials he reviewed didn’t include the scenes displaying the womens’ names. In an opinion letter, he stated that the documentary doesn’t “give rise to any viable claims for invasion of privacy by disclosure of private facts” because, “[m]ost importantly, the patients and their children who appear on camera all are released and voluntarily disclosed their experiences with Dr. Cline and their trauma when they learned of his betrayal,” according to court filings.
In 2017, Kline pleaded guilty to two counts of obstruction of justice for lying to investigators with the state attorney general’s office but received no jail time after getting a suspended sentence. Indiana lawmakers subsequently passed a fertility fraud statute.
Best of The Hollywood Reporter
Sign up for THR's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.