Caron v. Caron
| Decision Date | 13 July 1990 |
| Citation | 577 A.2d 1178 |
| Parties | Elaine D. CARON, Individually and as Next Friend of Wade Ledoux v. Arthur CARON. |
| Court | Maine Supreme Court |
Frederick C. Moore, Robinson, Kriger, McCallum & Greene, Portland, for plaintiff.
John H. O'Neil, Jr., Smith & Elliott, Saco, for defendant.
Before McKUSICK, C.J., and WATHEN, GLASSMAN, CLIFFORD, COLLINS and BRODY, JJ.
Defendant, Arthur Caron, timely appeals the judgment in Superior Court (York County, Perkins, J.) awarding plaintiffs, Elaine D. Caron and her son, Wade Ledoux, compensatory and punitive damages in a civil suit for assault, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Arthur contends that the Superior Court abused its discretion in admitting evidence, which he argues was unduly prejudicial, of acts that Arthur allegedly committed more than six years before this case was filed and that therefore fall beyond the scope of the statute of limitations. He also argues that the amount of punitive damages awarded by the jury was not supported by the evidence. We find no merit in these arguments and affirm the judgment.
It was established at trial that the parties were married in 1977 and divorced in 1984. They had one child, Nicole. Elaine also had a son, Wade Ledoux, from a previous marriage. Evidence of Arthur's treatment of Elaine and Wade both before and after the divorce was introduced. Evidence of Arthur's conduct after the divorce centered on an incident in October 1986, when Elaine went to Arthur's house to pick up Nicole who was visiting Arthur. Elaine testified that Arthur invited her into his house, but during the subsequent conversation Arthur became angry and ordered Elaine to leave. Elaine acquiesced, but when she stopped to call Nicole, Arthur grabbed Elaine by her ponytail, kicked her feet out from under her and dragged her around the house. He also kicked her several times in the side. Elaine speculated that this episode continued for about 15 minutes before Arthur picked Elaine up by her arm and her leg and threw her off his forty-inch high porch onto the sidewalk. As a result, Elaine suffered a permanent disabling knee injury that surgery has failed to correct and that has forced her to leave her job. Elaine has also developed post-traumatic stress syndrome as a result of which she is afraid to leave the house alone, she has flashbacks to the assault and nightmares, she has a high anxiety level, and she suffers from a severe bladder control problem.
Arthur admitted that he grabbed Elaine by her hair in such a way that she was off her feet and that he threw her off his porch. He stated that he was "using a reasonable amount of force ... necessary to remove her because Elaine refused to leave." As a result of this incident, Arthur pleaded guilty to criminal assault.
Evidence was also introduced of Arthur's acts of violence and intimidation committed before the divorce against Elaine. In addition, Elaine testified that after the parties separated Arthur made death threats to her over the phone "almost every other day." Arthur admitted making "numerous" death threats to Elaine and stated that he regarded these utterances as being statements of fact rather than mere threats.
Both Elaine and Wade testified about incidents in which Arthur abused Wade. Elaine and Wade described how Arthur would force-feed Wade. If Wade gagged or retched, Arthur would spoon the vomit back into Wade's mouth. They also related an incident when Wade received a deep cut over his eye because Arthur threw Wade at the wooden arm of a couch. On another occasion, Arthur repeatedly slapped Wade back and forth across the face, giving him two black eyes. Elaine stated that "as a rule" Arthur forced Wade to stay in his room in the morning until Arthur left for work, causing Wade, who was thus denied access to the bathroom, to urinate in his pajamas.
The jury awarded $119,000 in compensatory damages and $75,000 in punitive damages to Elaine and $20,000 in compensatory damages and $35,000 in punitive damages to Wade.
Arthur argues that he should be granted a new trial because the trial court admitted over his objection unduly prejudicial evidence of pre-1982 acts that were beyond the scope of the statute of limitations. Specifically, Arthur objects to the introduction of incidents in which:...
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