Photo/Illutration A building in Osaka's Kitaw Ward that accommodates the Osaka District Court (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

OSAKA--The Osaka District Court on March 12 ordered a woman to pay her ex-husband 8.8 million yen ($83,300) for using a frozen fertilized egg without his consent to conceive her child.

“Her (act) violated the man’s right to self-determination on whether or not to have a child with his ex-wife,” Presiding Judge Hiroaki Kikuchi said, delivering the verdict.

The man, in his 40s, sued his ex-wife and the Tokyo clinic that transplanted the fertilized egg, asking for 20 million yen in compensation.

In April 2015 when the couple was still married but estranged, the woman forged her husband's name in the space for his signature on the clinic's transplant consent form, the ruling stated.

She then underwent the transplant and gave birth to a girl in January 2016.

The couple later divorced.

The court in its decision said evidence showed the woman was aware the plaintiff did not give his consent to the transplant because after her daughter's delivery she told him, “I should have had you sign the consent form.” 

The court thus ruled the woman had violated the man’s right of self-determination.

The court, however, dismissed the man’s claim that the clinic should compensate him, stating that the clinic couldn’t easily determine the consent form was forged. 

The man also filed a lawsuit with the Osaka Family Court seeking to prove that the baby girl was born "out of wedlock."

But the court in November dismissed the claim on the grounds that the man has a father-daughter relationship with the girl. The ruling has since been finalized.

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