Judgment, 25 March 1987

The plaintiff was a single woman who was hired by the defendant as a surrogate mother. After having sex with the defendant four times, the plaintiff became pregnant and then entered into a written contract with the defendant to hand over the resulting child to the defendant and his wife for the payment of 28,600 DM. The contract also stipulated that if, subsequent to giving birth, the plaintiff decided to keep the child, she was to return any payments received from the defendant. After the birth of the child, the plaintiff, who had already received 4,300 DM, did decide to keep the child but did not return the 4,300 DM and sued the defendant for child support. He in turn sued to contest his fatherhood. While both suits were pending, the defendant and his wife revealed the nature of the transaction to friends, relatives, and coworkers of the defendant. The plaintiff then sued for slander, and the defendant sued for fraud in termination of the contract and for loss of personal rights. The Regional Court at Freiburg, Federal Republic of Germany, dismissed both suits. It ruled that there was no slander because the facts revealed by the defendant were true. It ruled that the defendant could not recover the 4,300 DM for fraud, because there was no damage to his personal rights since he was not tricked into sleeping with the plaintiff and forfeited protection of his personal rights by entering into a contract exchanging sex for money.