From Doe v. Netflix, Inc., decided yesterday by Chief Judge Tanya Walton Pratt (S.D. Ind.):
Individuals hoping to one day have children, but who for whatever reasons could not naturally conceive them, entrusted fertility specialist Dr. Donald Cline with that task.. Unbeknown to anyone, Dr. Cline inseminated many of his female patients with his own semen, ultimately, fathering approximately ninety-four (94) children (the "Secret Children"). Dr. Cline's secret was not discovered until 2015 after some took at-home DNA tests through an online testing service. It was not until 2019 that the Plaintiffs made the same discovery after submitting their DNA samples to another online testing service. The Plaintiffs held this information in close confidence. Only, "[c]ertain of Plaintiff's biological half siblings were able to see [their] identit[ies] through the DNA website[s]. This information was kept secured to a limited number of persons, namely, certain of the biological half siblings, through passwords and other means."…
Some of the Secret Children were rightly eager for answers and wanted to expose Dr. Cline's fraud. They reported him to local news outlets, government agencies, and the like. Local news outlets investigated and reported on the story. Thereafter, national news outlets reported on Dr. Cline's fertility fraud. This created a media frenzy surrounding Dr. Cline's conduct. In 2020, the Defendants contacted some of the Secret Children, including Jacoba Ballard ("Ballard"). Defendants offered them "the opportunity to discuss being on camera for [a] documentary and to submit photos."
However, some of the Secret Children, including the Plaintiffs, expressed concerns with being included in the documentary. The "Defendants made clear to the [ ] Secret Children that no Secret Child would be identified in the documentary without his or her explicit consent." In April 2021, the Defendants sent a written statement to Doe and Roe, which read in part: "I know that some of you were more comfortable than others being involved…. You will not be identified (unless you've already given us explicit permission to do so…." (the 'Non-Identification Pledge')."
The three Plaintiffs communicated to Defendants that they did not have their permission to disclose their names in the documentary.
Approximately a year later, in April 2022, the Defendants shared a trailer of the documentary to millions on their social media accounts. The social media posts embedded links to segments of the documentary. The Plaintiffs' names were displayed, and they were identified as Secret Children. In May 2022, millions of people, including at least 250,000 Indiana residents were able to view "Our Father" on Netflix's streaming platform. The documentary depicts Ballard uncovering the truth of her biological parentage, the identities of her previously unknown siblings, the extent of Dr. Cline's fertility fraud, and Dr. Cline's subsequent conviction. At one point during "Our Father", Ballard is seen reviewing her DNA results and scrolling through the names of her half-siblings. It is at this moment that the Plaintiffs' names appear on the screen: "Coe's name appeared on screen for less than 1 second … and Doe's and Roe's names appeared on screen for approximately 9 seconds…."…
