Jonas v. Hirshburg

48 N.E. 656, 18 Ind. App. 581, 1897 Ind. App. LEXIS 241
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 9, 1897
DocketNo. 2,207
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 48 N.E. 656 (Jonas v. Hirshburg) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jonas v. Hirshburg, 48 N.E. 656, 18 Ind. App. 581, 1897 Ind. App. LEXIS 241 (Ind. Ct. App. 1897).

Opinion

Wiley, J. —

Appellee brought this action against appellant to recover damages for alienating his wife’s affections, and for causing her to live apart and separate from him, appellee’s wife being the daughter of appellant. The issues being joined, the cause was tried by a jury, a special verdict returned, and judgment pronounced thereon in favor of appellee. Appellant’s motion for a venire de novo, for judgment on the special verdict, and for a new trial were respectively overruled, and on appeal she has assigned error a-s follows:

First. The court erred in overruling appellant’s motion for judgment upon the special verdict.

Second. The court erred in rendering judgment for the appellee on the special verdict.

Third. The court erred in overruling appellant’s motion for a new trial.

Fourth. The court erred in overruling the demurrer to the amended complaint.

Fifth. The court erred in overruling' appellant’s motion for a venire de novo.

We will consider these several alleged errors in the order in which they are discussed by counsel.

First. As to the sufficiency of the complaint.

The complaint is not lengthy, and we copy literally the following: “Plaintiff complaining of said Amy Jonas, defendant, avers that the said defendant contriving, and wrongfully, wickedly, maliciously and unjustly intending to injure the said plaintiff and to deprive him of the comfort, fellowship, society, association, aid and assistance of said Sadie Hirshburg, his said wife, and to alienate and destroy her affection for [584]*584him, she, the said Amy Jonas, did on the first day of January, 1895, unlawfully, unjustly, wrongfully and maliciously tempt, entice, persuade and allure the said Sadie Hirshburg, his wife, to abandon him, his house and home, and to live away and apart from him.

“Plaintiff avers, that since the said first day of January, 1895, until the. commencement of this suit, and during all that time, defendant harbored, sheltered and cared for the said Sadie Hirshburg, his said wife, and wickedly, wrongfully and maliciously contrived to alienate the affections of the said Sadie Hirshburg from him, and maliciously persuaded and induced her to refuse to acknowledge and receive him as her husband; and thereby and because of the wrongful, malicious and wicked acts aforesaid of the said defendant, * * * the affection of the said Sadie Hirshburg * * * for him was then and thereby alienated and destroyed; and by means of the premises the plaintiff hath hitherto wholly lost and been deprived of the comfort, fellowship, society, aid, association and assistance of the said Sadie Hirshburg * * * in his domestic affairs, which he, plaintiff, during all that time ought to have had and otherwise might and would have had.”

The complaint also avers that the appellee was a married man; that Sadie Hirshburg was his wife, and that appellant was her mother.

Appellant mdved the court that the complaint be made more specific as to the acts charged, which motion was overruled; but as such motion and ruling are not brought into the record by bill of exceptions, they present no question for our consideration.

Appellant contends that the complaint is insufficient to withstand the demurrer, because it fails to state, in detail, the means employed by her, the devices resorted to, and the language used to induce and [585]*585cause appellee’s wife to leave him, and live separate and apart from him, and which resulted in alienating her affections from him. The province of a complaint is to state and plead a fact, or facts, which constitute a cause of action. In a case of this character, the actionable fact is that appellant did or said something that alienated the affections of his wife from him, caused her to abandon him, and live separate and apart from him. It is not the province of a pleading to state the evidence of a fact, nor a conclusion of law.

Whether this actionable fact charged against appellant was the use of certain language, the promise of any money, reward, or property, or by any other means, is in our judgment wholly immaterial. The fact that she wrongfully and maliciously alienated the affection of appellee’s wife, that she induced her to live separate and apart from him, and that by reason thereof he has been deprived of her association, society, aid, etc., is admitted to be true by the demurrer.

The statute in regard to the construction of a pleading is very liberal, and it provides that: “In the construction of a pleading for the purpose of determining its effects, its allegations shall be liberally construed; with a view to substantial justice between the parties,” etc. Section 379, Burns’ R. S. 1894 (375, Horner’s R. S. 1896). See Dickensheets v. Kaufman, 28 Ind. 251; Stone, Admr., v. State, ex rel., 75 Ind. 235.

To say that an act was maliciously done, or a word was maliciously spoken, is the statement of a fact. Applying this rule to the allegations of the complaint, that the appellant maliciously and wrongfully enticed appellee’s wife to leave him, and to live separate and apart from him, which in a case of this character, is the gravamen of the action, in this regard the complaint is not subject to .the objection urged against it.

It is next urged that the complaint is defective, be[586]*586cause it does not aver that appellee and his wife were living together. We do not think this objection is well taken. The domicile of the husband is the domicile of the wife, and the law presumes that they are living and- cohabiting together. But aside from this presumption, we think the complaint, by a fair and reasonable inference, at least, shows that appellee and his wife were living together. The complaint charges that appellant maliciously and wrongfully enticed appellee’s wife to leave him, and to live separate and apart from him. If they had not been living together then appellant could not have caused their separation; and while the complaint does not, in direct terms aver that they were living together, the following averment upon this point makes the complaint clearly sufficient, that the appellant did, “unlawfully, unjustly, wrongfully, and maliciously tempt, persuade and allure the said Sadie Hirshburg, his wife, to abandon him, his house and home and to live away and apart from him.”

Appellant next contends that the complaint is insufficient, because it does not state the particular acts, or words complained of, which caused appellee’s wife to abandon him, etc. This was not necessary. The same rule does not apply as in actions for libel and slander. In the latter case, the specific words spoken must, be stated, because the gist of the action is the speaking or publishing certain defamatory words; while in the case before us the gist of the action is that appellant maliciously and wrongfully, caused appellee’s wife to abandon him, etc.

It is further urged by appellant that the complaint is bad, because it does not charge that appellee and his wife were living together peaceably and happily. Counsel for appellant say: “For aught that appears, it may be that the wife had just cause to abandon her husband (appellee), and what appellant may have said [587]

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Bluebook (online)
48 N.E. 656, 18 Ind. App. 581, 1897 Ind. App. LEXIS 241, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jonas-v-hirshburg-indctapp-1897.