INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana jury ruled Thursday that Netflix must pay $385,000 to Lori Kennard, a woman who was outed as the child of notorious fertility doctor Donald Cline in the documentary Our Father. The film, which aired in 2022, explored Cline’s secretive practice of fathering 94 children, a truth revealed years later when some of his children submitted DNA samples to 23andMe.
Kennard, along with two other women, filed a lawsuit against Netflix in 2022 for public disclosure of private facts, arguing that the film’s use of their names caused emotional distress and social fear. The documentary briefly displayed their identities, revealing their paternity in a highly sensitive manner.
After a four-day trial in federal court in Indianapolis, the jury sided with Kennard, ordering Netflix to pay compensatory damages. The jury, however, did not grant any damages to another plaintiff, Sarah Bowling, and dismissed the third plaintiff’s claims before trial.
“This is a precedential result,” said Robert MacGill, the plaintiffs’ attorney. “The jury verdict confirms how Americans are protected against invasions of privacy by filmmakers.”
Netflix contended that the women’s identities were only shown briefly and argued that they had relinquished their privacy rights by joining a closed Facebook group for Cline’s secret children and discussing the case publicly on social media. The jury found that Kennard had kept her connection to Cline private, but Bowling had not.
The plaintiffs’ attorneys argued that the filmmakers understood the delicate nature of the case and had assured the women that their identities would not be disclosed without permission. They accused Netflix and the documentary’s producer, RealHouse (a division of Blumhouse Productions), of negligence for failing to blur the names.
In a ruling issued in October, Judge Tanya Walton Pratt allowed the case to proceed to trial and permitted the pursuit of compensatory damages. However, the judge also ruled that Netflix and RealHouse had taken reasonable steps to address legal issues, and the failure to blur the names was deemed an honest mistake. As a result, the plaintiffs were only able to pursue compensatory, not punitive, damages.
Despite the ruling, Netflix expressed satisfaction with the verdict, which could have resulted in much higher penalties if punitive damages had been allowed. The company continues to stand by the documentary, asserting that it was protected by the First Amendment, though the judge ruled that the women’s privacy interests outweighed the film’s newsworthiness.
MacGill stated that the case may set a precedent for other reality-based productions facing potential privacy violations.