O'Neil v. Schuckardt

• Citation: 112 Idaho 472,733 P.2d 693
• Decision Date: 12 December 1986
• Docket Number: No. 15580,15580
• Parties: , 67 A.L.R.4th 1065 Jerry Bryant O'NEIL, and Jerry Bryant O'Neil, Guardian Ad Litem for David A. O'Neil, Wendy K. O'Neil, Laura B. O'Neil, Sara L. O'Neil, and Maria J. O'Neil, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Francis K. SCHUCKARDT a/k/a Bishop Francis of Fatima Crusade, Frater R. Denis Chicoine, Sister Mary Bernadette Janet Urban, Alvina Urban, and Christ the King Priory, Inc., an Idaho Corporation, Defendants-Respondents.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Idaho

Page 693

733 P.2d 693

112 Idaho 472, 67 A.L.R.4th 1065

Jerry Bryant O'NEIL, and Jerry Bryant O'Neil, Guardian Ad Litem for David A. O'Neil, Wendy K. O'Neil, Laura B. O'Neil, Sara L. O'Neil, and Maria J. O'Neil, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Francis K. SCHUCKARDT a/k/a Bishop Francis of Fatima Crusade, Frater R. Denis Chicoine, Sister Mary Bernadette Janet Urban, Alvina Urban, and Christ the King Priory, Inc., an Idaho Corporation, Defendants-Respondents.

No. 15580.

Supreme Court of Idaho.

Dec. 12, 1986.

Rehearing Denied March 12, 1987.

[112 Idaho 473] M. Dean Jellison, Kalispell, Mont. (argued), and Charles Sheroke, Coeur d'Alene, for plaintiffs-appellants.

Bliss O. Bignall, Jr., Coeur d'Alene, for defendants-respondents.

1986 Opinion No. 101, Issued July 3, 1986, is hereby withdrawn, and this opinion is substituted therefor.

ON REHEARING

HUNTLEY, Justice.

Jerry O'Neil appeals from an order granting defendants' motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict after a jury rendered a one million dollar verdict in favor of him and his children. O'Neil had brought suit against Francis K. Schuckardt, Bishop of the Fatima Crusade, against the Fatima Crusade Church itself, and against various members of the church for alienation of his wife's affections and for invasion of his, his wife's and his childrens' privacy.

Jerry O'Neil and Pauline Urban O'Neil were married in 1965. Over the next eight years they had five children. Pauline was raised in a Catholic family where religion occupied a very important part of the family's life. Jerry was not Catholic, took no lessons or training in the Catholic faith before marrying Pauline, and had made no commitments or promises about having his children raised as Catholics.

Pauline's mother, Alvina Urban, became actively involved with the Tridentine Latin Rite Church, also known as the Fatima Crusade, a fundamentalist sect of the Catholic Church led by defendant Bishop Francis K. Schuckardt. Members of the church adhere to beliefs of the Catholic religion as taught prior to Vatican Council II, which concluded in 1967. They believe that marriages between Catholics and non-Catholics are not valid in the eyes of God unless the non-Catholic has taken instruction in the faith and has agreed that any children of the marriage be raised as Catholics. They do not believe the present Pope is the true head of the Catholic Church. Their views are otherwise very similar to those of the Roman Catholic Church. They contend that they represent the true Catholic Church. Pauline's sister Janet, known as Sister Mary Bernadette, is a nun in this church, and Pauline's mother, Alvina Urban, runs a boarding house for the church schools.

In early 1974, Pauline's mother called her, offering to come to Kalispell and bring Pauline and her children to Alvina's church boarding house in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, headquarters of the church. Their subsequent visit to Coeur d'Alene was with Jerry O'Neil's consent.

Jerry testified that defendants, who also include Pauline's mother and sister, purposefully lied and misrepresented the church to Pauline, and required her to do things in the name of the faith which were intended to break up the marriage and alienate the children from their father. Jerry believes that other church members intentionally kept Pauline from meeting with him, mistreated his children while they were in the church school, and misled both him and Pauline about the status of their marriage.

Pauline, on the other hand, testified that she went to Coeur d'Alene because she wanted to join the church; that she was not seriously contemplating divorce at that time; that she was allowed out of the boarding house whenever she chose and permitted to meet with whomever she chose; that when Jerry went to visit her, she was terrified of him because he was unreasonable and violent.

The defendants believed, and instructed Pauline, that the marriage was not valid in the eyes of God because Jerry was not Catholic and had taken no instruction. They told Pauline that she could not live with Jerry as his wife since that would be committing a sin, but that she could live with him and her children as though Jerry were her brother. The O'Neils were divorced in the courts of Idaho, and Jerry O'Neil was awarded custody of the children. The divorce decree provided that Pauline O'Neil was restrained from imposing on her children her religious or philosophical beliefs in the Fatima Crusade and that neither Jerry nor Pauline were permitted to carry on any conduct that would create mental distress and disturbance on the part of the children.

In December 1975, Jerry O'Neil filed suit in his own name and as guardian ad litem for his five children, some of whom had moved in with their mother. The defendants included Bishop Francis Schuckardt; Frater Denis Chicoine, a priest in the Fatima Crusade; Sister Mary Bernadette Janet Urban, Pauline's sister; Alvina Urban, Pauline's mother; and Christ the King Priory, Inc., the corporate entity of the church. O'Neil alleged alienation of affections of his wife, invasion of privacy of both his wife and children, and alienation of affections of the children from their mother. After trial in August, 1983, the jury returned a unanimous special verdict in which it found that the defendants did alienate the affections of Pauline from Jerry, and that defendants invaded the marital privacy of the parties, and invaded the privacy of the children. The jury awarded to Jerry damages of $250,000 for the alienation of his wife's affections and for invasion of their marital privacy, $50,000 to each child for invasion of their privacy, and $500,000 in punitive damages.

Defendants moved for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, and, alternately, for remittitur or new trial. The trial court ultimately granted the motion for judgment n.o.v., ruling that O'Neil had not met his burden of proving the elements of either alienation of affections or invasion of privacy. O'Neil appeals from the trial court's order, and additionally argues that he should have been awarded attorney fees, even though he represented himself.

For the reasons which follow, we affirm the granting of the judgment n.o.v. as to the cause of action concerning alienation of affections, reverse its granting as to the invasion of privacy causes of action, and remand for further proceedings.

I. ALIENATION OF AFFECTIONS

Tort law protects relational interests as well as interests in property and in the person. P. Keeton, Prosser and Keeton on the Law of Torts, § 915 (5th ed. 1984). The action for alienation of affections evolved from an action protecting property interests to one protecting relational interests. It initially arose by analogy to the action a master had against one who enticed away his servant, in whose services the master held a quasi-proprietary interest. The early common law considered the wife a servant to her husband. His suit against one who enticed her away was for the loss of her services. W. Keeton at § 916. Eventually, courts also found a wife had a proprietary interest in her husband's services and could sue one who enticed away her husband. Bennett v. Bennett, 116 N.Y. 584, 23 N.E. 17, 21 (1899). This view of a wife's interest in her husband's services complimented the Married Women's Property Acts passed in the late 1800's, which gave to women the same rights to own property as those held by men. Note, The suit of Alienation of Affections: Can its Existence be Justified Today? [Hereinafter Alienation of Affections ] 56 N.D.L.Rev. 239, 243 (1980). As time went on, the focus of damages shifted from loss of services to the loss of the companionship and affections of the spouse. Edgren v. Reissner, 239 Or. 212, 396 P.2d 564, 567 (1964); Holbrook, The Change in the Meaning of Consortium, 22 Mich.L.Rev. 1 (1923).

The elements of an action for alienation of affections are: (1) an existing marital relationship; (2) an intent to alienate the spouse's affections by defendants' conduct; (3) an actual alienation of the spouse's affection; and (4) a causal connection between defendants' conduct and the alienation (proximate cause). With respect to the second element, actual, direct proof of an intent to alienate is not necessary. It is sufficient to prove the natural and probable consequence of the defendants' acts was to alienate the affections of the spouse. Carrieri v. Bush, 69 Wash.2d 536, 419 P.2d 132, 136 (1966).

Several defenses are available depending upon the status of the defendant. Parents are privileged to alienate the affections of their child's spouse in a good faith effort to protect their child's welfare. Bradford v. Bradford, 165 Or. 297, 107 P.2d 106, 109 (1940). The privilege terminates when a parent acts with ill will. Poulos v. Poulos, 351 Mass. 603, 222 N.E.2d 887, 890 (1967). It also terminates when a parent acts unreasonably under the circumstances. American Law Institute, Restatement of Torts Second, § 686, Comment F. Some jurisdictions extend the same privilege to siblings and other close relatives. Falk v. Falk, 279 Mass. 530, 181 N.E. 715 (1932); Wohlfort v. Wohlfort, 125 Kan. 234, 263 P. 1062 (1928); Ratcliffe v. Walker, 117 Va. 569, 85 S.E. 575 (1915).

The clergy can invoke religious motives as a defense to an action for alienation of affections. Radecki v. Schuckardt, 50 Ohio App.2d 92, 361 N.E.2d 543, 545 (1976). However, if a minister deliberately invades the marriage, he may be held liable, despite a religious purpose. Bear v. Reformed Mennonite Church, 462 Pa. 330 341 A.2d 105, 107 (1975); Carrieri v. Bush, supra, 419 P.2d at 136-37 (Wash.1966).

The cause of action for alienation of affections has been abolished or narrowed to insignificance in most states, either by statute or by the courts. ¹ Where challenged, the abolishing statutes have consistently been held constitutional. Magierowski v. Buckley, 39 N.J.Super. 534, 121 A.2d 749 (1956); Chiyoko Ikuta v. Shunji K....