A federal court has ordered Netflix to pay $385,000 to an Indiana woman named Lori Kennard after it determined that the streaming service’s documentary, “Our Father,” improperly revealed her as one of the daughters of disgraced fertility doctor Donald Cline without her consent.
In 2022, Kennard filed a lawsuit against Netflix, claiming that the documentary outed her as one of Cline’s “secret children.” The film delves into Cline’s shocking actions of using his own sperm to impregnate many women over the years, resulting in the birth of 94 children.
The jury in Indianapolis ruled in favor of Kennard on a Thursday, recognizing that the documentary’s producers assured her that her identity would be kept private. Kennard’s lawsuit argued that the failure to blur her name caused her significant harm, leading to distress, embarrassment, and emotional trauma, especially as her name circulated on social media alongside promotions for the film.
While the jury sided with Kennard, they found in favor of Netflix regarding another woman, Sarah Bowling, who made similar claims. This suggests that Kennard had kept her connection to Cline private, whereas Bowling had not. The claims made by a third woman in the case were dismissed before reaching trial.
Our Father illustrates the unsettling reality of Cline’s practices during the 1970s and 80s, where he misled patients about the origins of the sperm used for insemination. He falsely claimed that he donated sperm only a limited number of times and that the sperm came from medical trainees.
In a troubling twist, Cline misled investigators from the Indiana attorney general’s office in 2016 when he denied using his own sperm for inseminations. He later pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in 2017 but faced no jail time, receiving only a suspended sentence.
In response to this scandal, Indiana lawmakers acted quickly to implement a fertility fraud statute. Cline surrendered his medical license in 2018 and is permanently barred from seeking its reinstatement.
