Sofia Vergara and Nick Loeb underwent IVF together before splitting in 2014
A Los Angeles court has ruled in favor of Sofia Vergara in her ongoing court battle
with ex Nick Loeb over custody rights to frozen pre-embryos they created while together.
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PHOTO: EVAN AGOSTINI/INVISION/AP/SHUTTERSTOCK; JEAN-BAPTISTE LACROIX/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Vergara, 48, and Loeb, 45, ended their engagement in May 2014 after having undergone in vitro fertilization together the year prior. The Modern Family actress, who has an adult son named Manolo, later married Joe Manganiello in November 2015.
In 2017, Vergara filed legal documents in California hoping to block Loeb from being able to use, without her written consent, the frozen pre-embryos they created via IVF at the ART Reproductive Center in Beverly Hills when they were still together in 2013.
On Tuesday, a court sided with Vergara, granting her request for a Permanent Injunction and preventing Loeb from using the frozen embryos “to create a child without the explicit written permission of the other person,” according to court documents obtained by PEOPLE.
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Loeb said in a statement that the judge “was clearly influenced by Hollywood, which is a pattern I expose in my upcoming film Roe v. Wade.”
“It’s sad that Sofia, a devout Catholic, would intentionally create babies just to kill them,” his statement read.
According to the court records, Loeb and Vergara previously signed a document, “the Form Directive,” at the fertility clinic agreeing that both parties had to agree in order to do anything with the embryos.
Loeb previously argued that he signed this form under “duress,” but the court on Tuesday found that “the Form Directive is not void or voidable based on Defendant Loeb’s duress defense as to its execution.”
Further, it found that there is no “material fact” supporting his previous claim that he and Vergara had an “oral agreement” that would allow him to implant the embryos in a surrogate to be born.
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In addition to their legal battle in California, Loeb has continued his attempt to gain custody of the embryos in Louisiana, creating a trust in the state to give the embryos legal status.
This case was dismissed in January when the Louisiana court sided with Vergara, upholding the dismissal of a lawsuit seeking to obtain custody of the pre-embryos.
The court additionally entered a reversal of the trial court order that sealed discovery in the case, therefore unsealing related documents to the public, according to court documents obtained by PEOPLE.
At the time, an attorney for Loeb said they would be appealing the case to the Louisiana Supreme Court.