Surrogate Broker Sued Over Misconception

A New York couple sued a San Clemente surrogate brokerage Wednesday, alleging that a would-be surrogate got pregnant but not by the intended father.

According to the suit filed by Michael and Laura Garrick, the surrogate found by Kathryn Wyckoff, coordinator of the Center for Reproductive Alternatives of Southern California, was inseminated four times with semen from Michael Garrick and became pregnant--but by her own boyfriend.

“The contract says I will do everything I can to do the service for them, but there’s no guarantee” of a child, or that the surrogate will become pregnant by the right man, Wyckoff said Wednesday night.

The suit alleges that the Garricks first contacted Wyckoff in February, 1991, and were matched with a surrogate identified only as Kathy. They paid for her medical care and gave her a monthly stipend. But when they also demanded that she undergo a paternity test, the results showed Kathy’s boyfriend was the father, according to the suit.

The couple allege that Wyckoff persuaded them to try again. In the summer of 1992, she matched them with Suzie, who had been a surrogate mother to Wyckoff’s own son, now 3 years old.

Michael Garrick sent semen to Suzie by Federal Express, according to the suit.

Then, the Garricks allege, they found out that Suzie already was trying to become pregnant for another couple.

Wyckoff’s version of events was different. The sperm sent from New York was insufficient to impregnate Suzie, she said. So Suzie “decided to withdraw from the program.” The Garricks’ suit says a test proved that his semen was fertile.

Michael Garrick, 55, and Laura Garrick, 47, claim that, because of the time wasted, they “lost their opportunity to conceive children or participate in a surrogate program in the future.”

Wyckoff, however, said she has tried to work with them and has suggested several different ways they could have a child.

“I tried to work with them as recently as September,” said Wyckoff, who founded her surrogate brokerage business in 1981. “I gave them several options to proceed.”

Wyckoff said she suggested fertilizing a donor egg with Michael Garrick’s sperm in a petri dish, then either implanting the embryo in Laura Garrick or a surrogate mother. She insisted that the Garricks never responded to her last letter in September.

“Usually I continue to work with couples to find a different surrogate or a different way of doing it until they have their baby,” she added.

The Garricks and their attorneys could not be reached for comment.

The suit seeks more than $44,600 in damages and claims Wyckoff’s firm did not respond to their correspondence or find other suitable surrogates.