Baltzly v. Gruenig
| Decision Date | 06 July 1934 |
| Docket Number | 28983 |
| Citation | 256 N.W. 4,127 Neb. 520 |
| Parties | IVA A. BALTZLY, APPELLEE, v. GERTRUDE GRUENIG, APPELLANT |
| Court | Nebraska Supreme Court |
APPEAL from the district court for Douglas county: JOHN W. YEAGER JUDGE. Affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
Syllabus by the Court.
1. Marriage is a civil contract, but the preservation of the harmonious relations being considered of the highest importance, the state protects the parties from the wrongful intrusion of another.
2. Any person intentionally disturbing the relation between a husband and wife, so that the affections, comfort, aid society, and companionship are alienated, is liable to the party wronged in damages.
3. In an action for alienation of affections, evidence tending to show that the defendant was a person of wealth is inadmissible in the absence of competent affirmative evidence tending to show that the defendant used her financial status as an active inducement to accomplish improper and illegal ends.
Appeal from District Court, Douglas County; Yeager, Judge.
Action by Iva A. Baltzly against Gertrude Gruenig. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant appeals.
Affirmed.
Fischer, Fischer & Fischer and Brome & Thomas, for appellant.
Rosewater, Mecham, Burton, Hasselquist & Chew, contra.
Heard before ROSE, GOOD, EBERLY and PAINE, JJ., and LESLIE and RYAN, District Judges.
Iva A. Baltzly, appellee, hereafter called the plaintiff, brought action against Gertrude Gruenig, appellant, hereafter called the defendant, for damages for the alienation of the affections of plaintiff's former husband, Dr. Oliver D. Baltzly. The jury returned a verdict for $ 12,500. Defendant appeals from judgment entered on said verdict.
The plaintiff, in the concluding paragraph of her petition, set out: "That as a direct cause and result of the defendant's acts as herein set forth, she completely alienated plaintiff's husband's affections from the plaintiff and by reason thereof plaintiff has lost the society, assistance, support and consortium rightfully owing to her from her husband, by reason whereof she has been damaged in the sum of $ 50,000."
The defendant in her answer "specifically denies that at any time or in any place or in any manner did she alienate the affections of the said Oliver D. Baltzly from the plaintiff herein, but alleges that the want of love, esteem and affection by the said Dr. Oliver D. Baltzly for the plaintiff herein as alleged in her petition, if true, must have been caused by acts and conditions in no wise connected with the defendant, and defendant further alleges that through no act of the defendant has the plaintiff lost the society, assistance, support and consortium of the said Dr. Oliver D. Baltzly."
The evidence discloses that the plaintiff was 60 years of age in November, 1933, and was born at Galion, Ohio. Dr. Baltzly was born on a farm near Ponca, Nebraska, about 1872, and in 1889 they met in the freshman year of their college course, and each received an A. B. degree from Wittenberg College at Springfield, Ohio, in 1893. After that they each received a master's degree, and later each attained the degree of doctor of philosophy, which shows that both are highly educated. They were married June 11, 1896. The issue of said marriage is one daughter, Olive, named for her father, born at Mansfield, Ohio, September 29, 1897, while Dr. Baltzly was pastor of St. Luke's Lutheran Church. After preaching at points in the east for several years, Dr. Baltzly became the pastor of the Kountze Memorial Church at Omaha in 1911, it having at that time a membership of 750, and he was retained as pastor and advanced in salary, until 20 years later the church had a membership of about 4,500, and they were paying him $ 6,000 a year, and he had gained national repute as an author of Lutheran publications. He was made pastor emeritus in August, 1931.
In 1916 the plaintiff received the highest honor and greatest responsibility in the power of the Lutheran church to bestow upon a woman. She was placed at the head of the Women's Home and Foreign Missionary Society of the general synod, an organization of 50,000 Lutheran women, supporting a vast amount of missionary activities in America, India, and Africa. At all times the plaintiff claims that she did all in her power to make the work of her husband's church successful.
The daughter, Olive, became a teacher in the Benson, and later in the Technical, high schools in Omaha, but suffered a nervous breakdown in 1919, and grew worse, and three years later she was confined for a time in Dr. Bishop's Sanitarium in South Pasadena.
The defendant, aged 39 at the time of the trial, resides at 2514 Fowler Avenue, Omaha. She was married to Dr. F. C. Lage on November 24, 1914, each of them being members of the Kountze Memorial Church. This marriage was annulled in Omaha on July 23, 1926, upon her testimony that they had never at any time lived together as man and wife, and in this annulment decree her maiden name was restored to her.
After retiring from the active pastorate of the church, Dr. Baltzly went to Arkansas, and on October 20, 1931, established a residence in the Hot Springs Tourist Court, an automobile camp just outside the city limits of Hot Springs, to acquire the 90-day residence required for a divorce. He filed a petition for divorce on December 26, 1931, and a decree of divorce against the plaintiff was granted him on May 3, 1932, which did not provide for any support for the plaintiff or the daughter.
More than 20 of the members of the Kountze Memorial Church testified for the plaintiff at the trial, and the evidence discloses that the membership of the church is divided on the merits of the case, but of those members testifying a greater number supported the plaintiff's charges.
The evidence is very voluminous, and no good end would be served by setting it forth at length in all the minute details found in the several volumes of the bill of exceptions.
The defendant testified that she admired Dr. Baltzly very much, and had always assisted him in every phase of church work where she could. As the years passed she gradually spent more time in the church, often remaining for an hour or more with him in his study, or in the sacristy, a little room off the altar, and on a few occasions they were there behind locked doors. The janitor testifies that they remained there a few times until nearly midnight. Testimony indicates that on at least two occasions they were observed in the act of embracing and kissing, this being denied by both of them. One summer Dr. Baltzly spent a few days, while other guests were there, at the defendant's cottage in Minnesota; this was in 1925. They have taken automobile rides together. They would visit together in the church for hours at a time, appearing confidential in their manner. The defendant's counsel insists that they stood so close together on these occasions because Dr. Baltzly is slightly hard of hearing. The weight of the evidence indicates definitely that, when the defendant and Dr. Baltzly were thus together alone, they were happy, contented, and seemingly infatuated with each other.
The domestic relations between the plaintiff and her husband grew more strained as the years went on, and finally on May 23, 1927, an agreement, being exhibit 1, was entered into in the presence of five witnesses, and received in evidence without objection, which began with these words: "Whereas certain differences have arisen between the undersigned threatening a separation and perhaps a state of facts of more serious consequences." Plaintiff claims she signed it under pressure. The plaintiff, by the terms of said agreement, departed from Omaha on June 15, 1927, taking the daughter, Olive, with her, and established a temporary home in California, and Dr. Baltzly agreed to pay railroad fare of $ 150, and, in addition, pay $ 175 a month for the care of plaintiff and their daughter. Plaintiff went to California, and has remained there, and the daughter was at the time of the trial greatly improved in health. Payments under exhibit 1 were made until August, 1931, when he ceased such payments.
Dr Baltzly, at the trial in the case at bar, testified for the defendant, and strongly against his former wife. He claimed that for years his wife had a very jealous attitude towards the women generally of the congregation, and charged him with having more than a pastor's regard for the women of his church, even before he came to Omaha, where her jealousy greatly increased, and hampered his work. He testified that before 1919 he had determined to secure a divorce from her because of her attitude towards him, but that he did not push the matter then because of his daughter's mental breakdown. He claims that all marital relations between them ceased in 1925. The plaintiff went to the church council in 1926 and asked it to investigate the conduct of her husband with the women members of the church generally, and with the defendant in particular. The church council heard each in the absence of the other; then appointed a committee of five men to investigate,...
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