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The court battle over who has what rights to a surrogate heir born to Portland property magnate and philanthropist Jordan Schnitzer took a new turn on Friday.
Cory Sause, who provided the egg that became the surrogate son born to Schnitzer last December, has filed a reply to Schnitzer's contention that she had surrendered all rights to the baby, including the right to be named his mother on the boy's birth certificate and to visit him.
In her May 20 filing in Multnomah County Circuit Court, Sause introduced hundreds of the 4,481 text messages she says she and Schnitzer exchanged between March 2014 and August 2015.
The new filing is the fourth round in a legal battle that pits Schnitzer, 64, who owns one of the Northwest's largest commercial real estate empires, against Sause, 37, whose family owns a large Coos Bay tug boat and barge operation.
The two agreed to combine their genetic material to produce a surrogate baby, a boy born Dec. 22, 2015. That same day, however, Schnitzer filed documents in Multnomah County Circuit Count seeking and receiving a court judgement that he is the boy's sole parent and that nobody else has any rights to him.
Sause initially contested Schnitzer's claim in March, asking the court for legal standing with the goal of having her name added to the birth certificate and to be able to play a role in the boy's life.
In April, Schnitzer pushed back hard on two key points: first, arguing that Sause signed a legally binding contract with OHSU's fertility clinic renouncing any rights to the surrogate boy. Second, he asserted that the his relationship with Sause was sporadic and that she never had any interest having a relationship with the boy until after he was born.
Sause disputes both points. First, she argues that Schnitzer's in-house attorney, Jeff Nudelman, sent her a contract at Schnitzer's request that precedes and overrides the OHSU documents.
Second, she contends that her relationship with Schnitzer was far closer than Schnitzer says and that as recently as a month before the baby's birth, he was still desirous of their raising the boy together as a couple.
The text messages introduced on May 20 include information that Sause believes contradict parts of Schnitzer's April court filings in which he argued against Sause having any role in his son's life.
Here are two of the key text messages:
* On May 27, 2014, Schnitzer wrote to Sause, "I'll get Jeff going on the documents today."
"Jeff" is Jeff Nudelman, a lawyer who works for Schnitzer's company, Harsch Investment Properties. One of the primary points of contention between Schnitzer and Sause is the documentation that described the details of their arrangement.
Sause points to a document Nudelman prepared and that she signed, in which she agreed that Schnitzer would be the custodial parent but did not surrender other rights, such as visitation. Schnitzer has previously argued that although Nudelman did email Sause a contract, Schnitzer never signed it and it's invalid. He says subsequent documentation Sause signed at an OHSU fertility clinic should govern and that the OHSU document shows Sause renounced all rights.
*On Nov. 18, 2015, just over a month before the baby was born, Schnitzer wrote to Sause, "Our child needs a mom and a dad. I always thought we would be together to raise him or them. Having a child is the most amazing thing a man and woman can ever experience."
That sentiment Schnitzer seems to be at odds with his portrayal of a distant relationship between him and Sause in April court filings. In that filing he says they only saw each other "sporadically," and a total of "eight to 10 times." Sause says that in fact according to her records, they spent 77 days together in 2014 and 39 days together in 2015.
"Jordan Schnitzer stands by his response to the Sause lawsuit, which we filed on April 29. He has no further comments," Schnitzer's attorney, Laurel Hook, said in a statement. "He and his family look forward to raising his son and putting this matter behind them."
A hearing on the case will be held June 15.
Willamette Week