Vermont Physician Seeks New Trial in Fertility Fraud Lawsuit

A Vermont doctor hit with a first-ever jury verdict finding him liable for inseminating a fertility patient with his own sperm has asked a federal court for a new trial.

Alternatively, John Boyd Coates II asked the U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont to reduce the amount he has to pay Cheryl Rousseau—$250,000 in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages.

The suit presented issues never before considered by the district court, Coates told Judge William K. Sessions III.

But the outcome may be very influential, as several other lawsuits similarly alleging fertility fraud by doctors are ...