Sofia Vergara is attempting to draw her two-year legal battle with ex Nick Loeb over their embryos to a close.
According to TMZ.com, the Modern Family actress filed papers on Tuesday (14Feb17) asking the court to block Loeb from trying again in the future to take control of the embryos, which the former couple froze as part of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment in 2013, “with the intention of bringing them to term” without her agreement.
Loeb initially sued Vergara for custody of the eggs, but voluntarily dismissed his case against her in December (16) – according to the 44-year-old actress.
However, he has allegedly left the case in a way that could see him reopen it in the future. Vergara insists in her papers that refiling his case would be pointless, as Loeb signed a contract regarding the embryos which stated he “cannot bring them to term without mutual agreement”.
Vergara is seeking an order against Loeb preventing him from refiling the case, as well as financial compensation following the two-year legal battle.
Loeb previously insisted the case wasn’t personal, putting it down to “moral, legal, ethical concepts”, but during an interview on Good Morning America in 2015, Vergara slammed her former beau for getting publicity for himself through the fight.
“I really want to make this, like, the last time I talk about it. Because I don’t think it’s fair,” she said. “I’ve been working very hard for 20 years to get to this point. I promote all my movies, all my work, but I don’t like promoting my private life and I don’t understand why this person… I don’t want to allow this person to take more advantage of my career and try to promote himself and get press for this.”
Loeb had previously appeared on a U.S. morning TV show to discuss his mission to implant the embryos into a surrogate, and insisted that he would do the same thing regardless of the identity of his ex – adding that Vergara’s fame is inconsequential.
“It has nothing to do with her baby or a baby, lives were already created,” he said. “A lot of the questions are why don’t you move on and meet somebody else and no doubt I would love to do that but doesn’t it matter that two lives have already been created? I wouldn’t just toss them aside no different than a child that had been born.”
