Case Against Fertility Clinics Can Proceed to Trial

On September 11, 2025, Judge Dale Ho ruled that Larisa Lev-Ary’s lawsuit against the fertility clinics whose negligence, we allege, led to the destruction of her frozen oocytes could proceed to trial. The court denied motions for summary judgment filed by Defendants Manhattan Fertility Services, Legacy IVF, and Advanced Fertility Services. You can read the decision here, which was also covered by Law360.

The decision is one of the first to consider whether cases against fertility clinics involving the destruction of frozen oocytes sound in medical malpractice or ordinary negligence. Judge Ho agreed with Plaintiff that her claims were for ordinary negligence, ruling that claims stemming from the act of freezing oocytes for storage and then storing them were not medical in nature. “[T]his Court concludes that the freezing of oocytes—like the testing of donated blood—is not linked to the medical treatment of a particular patient,” and thus Ms. Lev-Ary’s claims sound in negligence.

This is an important victory not only for Ms. Lev-Ary but for other people who have stored frozen biological materials for future use. Had the court held that Ms. Lev-Ary’s claims sounded in medical malpractice, she would have been required to file a lawsuit within 2.5 years of the act that destroyed the eggs, even though she did not discover that they were destroyed until seven years after freezing them.

Ms. Lev-Ary is represented by Ali Frick.