LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Sofia Vergara's ex-fiance, Nick Loeb, wants a judge to dismiss most of the claims in the actress' lawsuit, which seeks to prevent his use of their frozen pre-embryos without her written consent.
In court papers filed last Friday, attorneys for Loeb state that the entire complaint is an ``ill-conceived attempt to annoy and harass Mr. Loeb. In fact ... several of plaintiff's causes of action are so devoid of basic facts and so legally untenable that plaintiff cannot now amend without filing a sham pleading with all the new facts and legal theories intended to plead around this (motion).''
Vergara's suit was filed Feb. 14 in Los Angeles Superior Court. Vergara wants the 41-year-old Loeb stopped from using the frozen pre-embryos that they created at the ART Reproductive Center in Beverly Hills while still together back in 2013 unless he first obtains her consent.
``The terms of the contract expressly state that neither party may use the pre-embryos created from the IVF procedure without the explicit written consent of the other party,'' the suit states.
Vergara, 44, wants a court to declare that any attempts by Loeb to bring the pre-embryos to term is a breach of their original contract and that he should be permanently enjoined from doing so.
But in their court papers, Loeb's lawyers want a judge to dismiss Vergara's causes of action for declaratory relief, injunctive relief, breach of contract, fraud and that she relied to her detriment on his promises. The lawyers state that the claims are barred on technical grounds under what is known as the Code of Civil Procedure's compulsory cross-claims statute, meaning she should have brought those allegations in a previous lawsuit Loeb filed against her.
``The purpose of this law is to prevent piecemeal litigation,'' Loeb's attorneys state in their court papers. Loeb's claims in his lawsuit and those of Vergara in her complaint are ``nearly identical,'' the suit states.
Some of the claims also are barred by a privilege that allows Loeb to take certain actions in the pursuit of litigation, according to his lawyers' court papers.
A hearing on Loeb's motion is scheduled May 11.
Vergara and Loeb ended their engagement in May of 2014. The actress, who has an adult son, Manolo, wed actor Joe Manganiello in November 2015.