Surrogate Mother, Drawn Into Custody Fight, Sues Child’s Father for Fraud

A woman who acted as a surrogate mother for a married couple from Connecticut filed a lawsuit this week accusing the husband of fraud and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Anna Benedict, 37, of Newark, Calif., gave birth to a baby girl named Maggi in 1994 and handed the child over to Frank and Janis Swenson, Benedict said during a news conference at her lawyer’s Anaheim office. Benedict and Frank Swenson are the child’s biological parents.

But instead of the happy ending Benedict had envisioned, she said she was drawn into a complicated legal battle when the Swensons split up six months after Maggi’s birth--and the father claimed sole custody of the baby.

Janis Swenson, 47, had not completed the adoption process when the couple separated, leaving Benedict as the baby’s legal mother, said Ronald A. Lais, Benedict’s attorney.

The continuing legal entanglements led Benedict to sue Frank Swenson on Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, alleging a breach of the 1992 surrogacy contract and seeking unspecified damages.

“I was happy to help the Swensons become a family but the resulting impact of their separation should have no bearing on my short-term involvement in their lives,” Benedict said. “I have two wonderful children of my own and as much as Maggi will always be a part of me, she is Frank and Jan’s daughter and there should be no open-ended questions about her heritage.”

In an interview Monday, Frank Swenson, 48, said he is waging his own battle from Groton Long Point, Conn., seeking to terminate Benedict’s parental rights over Maggi, now 2.

The father said he was unable to discuss the case in any detail because of a pending court order in Connecticut, but characterized the lawsuit as “an attempt to get more publicity” by Benedict’s attorney.

Attorney Lois Lawrence, who is representing Frank Swenson, also said she could not discuss the case, beyond calling the lawsuit “very, very shocking.”

“This is really a case between the former Mrs. Swenson and my client,” she said.

Frank Swenson said his daughter is a happy, healthy toddler and that he has a cordial relationship with Janis Swenson, from whom he was divorced in March 1995.

“She wants to be a part of Maggi’s life, and I have no problem with that,” Frank Swenson said of his former wife, who now lives in Modesto. Janis Swenson could not be reached for comment Monday.

During her news conference, Benedict said she has teamed up with Janis Swenson in an effort to support the ex-wife’s bid for joint custody of the child.

The surrogate mother contends in her lawsuit that she has incurred legal, travel and other expenses as a result of the couple’s legal battle.

“We have a bad situation where [Benedict] is being held financially responsible for a child she should no longer have that type of relationship to according to the terms of the surrogacy agreement,” said Lais, who represented Mark and Crispina Calvert in a landmark Orange County surrogate custody case. The case ended when the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a surrogate mother’s claim and awarded child custody to the Calverts.

Benedict said she met the Swensons through the Center for Surrogate Parenting Inc. in Los Angeles and said Maggi is her only surrogate child.

Lais said the case is an example of how complicated surrogacy arrangements can get when they go awry.

“The law can’t possibly anticipate all of the twists and turns that have happened and will continue to happen in the future,” he said. “Nothing like this has ever happened. We are breaking new ground with this issue.”