Judge Allows Fertility Suits to Claim Theft : Courts: Attorneys for UC Irvine hoped to limit cases to a medical malpractice law capping pain-and-suffering awards. Ruling could increase potential payouts.

A Superior Court judge on Friday agreed to allow former patients involved in the UC Irvine fertility clinic scandal to allege in their lawsuits that they were victims of theft, which might allow them to collect more money if they win.

The lawsuits against the university and three former fertility specialists allege that eggs and embryos were stolen and that some were implanted in women without the donors’ permission.

Attorneys for the university had sought to limit the allegations to those covered under a state law that, among other things, limits pain-and-suffering awards to $250,000 in medical malpractice cases.

But Judge Leonard Goldstein said he would allow the patients also to allege theft of personal property, thereby increasing the potential reward. The judge said he did not intend to let the issue move into questions of when life begins, saying he would be the “first to admit, I don’t know.”

In other developments, the judge also said the patients must file amended lawsuits that better differentiate which allegations, such as fraud, are being made against the university regents, and which are being made against doctors Ricardo H. Asch, Jose P. Balmaceda and Sergio C. Stone. The university and the doctors have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

Attorneys representing patients in 10 cases also agreed to join in gathering sworn information from six people, including Asch, who will be ordered to appear for a Dec. 27 deposition in Newport Beach.