Rutherford v. Rutherford, 1582
| Decision Date | 17 October 1990 |
| Docket Number | No. 1582,1582 |
| Citation | 401 S.E.2d 177,303 S.C. 424 |
| Court | South Carolina Court of Appeals |
| Parties | Bobby E. RUTHERFORD, Appellant, v. Carol RUTHERFORD, Respondent. . Heard |
Stevens B. Elliott, Columbia, for appellant.
Nathan M. Crystal and Kenneth M. Mathews, Columbia, for respondent.
Appellant husband Bobby E. Rutherford instituted this action against respondent wife Carol Rutherford for a divorce on the grounds of adultery and for the denial of alimony. The family court denied husband a divorce and granted wife alimony in the amount of $400 per month and other relief. We reverse and remand.
In appeals from the family court, this court can make findings of fact based on its own view of the preponderance of the evidence. Baker v. Baker, 286 S.C. 200, 332 S.E.2d 550 (Ct.App.1985).
The question we are asked to resolve is novel in South Carolina. The question is whether wife, who suffers a multiple personality disorder is entitled to alimony despite evidence that she committed adultery, and, concomitantly whether husband is entitled to a divorce. Here, there is sufficient proof that Mrs. Rutherford's body committed adultery. The question is now whether she as a cognitive person or as a disengaged alter ego committed adultery.
The parties were remarried on September 10, 1982 after being divorced in 1967. Both parties had intervening marriages. The husband stated wife was in Charter Rivers Hospital in September 1988 and received flowers from Claude Tedder who was also a patient there. He found Tedder's name, address and telephone number hidden in wife's make-up kit. While she was in the hospital, they discussed with a doctor the possibility of living separate and apart. On September 13, 1988, wife was discharged from the hospital. Husband agreed to support her and to set her up in an apartment. On September 17, wife told husband she was going to spend the night with a girlfriend who lived in the same trailer park as Tedder. At 9:00 p.m., husband went to the location and saw wife park her car and go inside Tedder's trailer. He observed the lights being turned off around 12:00 midnight. He remained there until 3:00 a.m. when he left to get a friend to witness the occurrence. He and Jay Campbell remained there until 5:00 a.m. They left to get a camera and returned to stay until 12:00 noon. No one exited the trailer during the 15 hour period.
The husband hired a detective on September 23. The detective told him he had evidence wife had been at the trailer several times.
The husband stated he had not observed any other personality or that wife was going by any other name than Carol. He said she had mood changes and never acted differently or identified herself as another person during sexual intercourse.
Husband testified wife worked "short stretches" during their marriage (two to six weeks). Her jobs included sales clerk at Revco, waitress, and sales clerk at Zippy Mart. She attended three quarters at technical college. Wife performed about 50% of the household duties and kept the house clean. She never exhibited an inability to work. The first time he heard anyone say she could not work was Dr. Nelson at Charter Rivers.
Wife testified she has a tenth grade education and that she attended a business school for a year. She has worked at several jobs but now claims she is unable to work. She stated she did most of the housework and took care of her children. She described the marriage as "rocky".
At the time of the hearing she was out on a pass from Charter Rivers Hospital. It was there she met Claude Tedder. She first learned of her multiple personalities in July 1988 when she was diagnosed as suffering from manic depression, schizophrenia and nymphomania. After learning of this, she began to study about the multiple personalities and the schizophrenia and admitted trying to hide the other personalities.
The following exchanges took place:
After this exchange, she identified herself as Diedra and as Diedra she denied sleeping with Claude Tedder. She stated that Carol has not slept with Tedder. She was asked if Rose had slept with Tedder and she said "perhaps". She stated that Diedra and Rose are not friends but that Carol was "okay sometimes but she's weak".
She said Rose began calling Tedder when she (Rose) began having problems with the husband. She then identified herself as Carol and stated that when she attempted to talk to Rose there is a buzzing in her head. As a part of her therapy, she keeps a journal about the various personalities but did not enter anything in the journal about Rose and Tedder.
Wife applied for SSA benefits. Her application was approved and she thinks she will receive $200 to $250 monthly. She receives $180 in child support from her second husband (whom she married between marriages to husband). She stated that she needed support and asked for $500 to $700 monthly alimony. She is on his health insurance but has unpaid bills. She needs continued treatment to recover.
Bonnie Rutherford, the parties' daughter-in-law, testified that on September 24, 1988, wife told her by telephone to tell husband that "his satisfactions been satisfied because she slept with Claude." She identified herself as Carol. She stated that wife left Claude's telephone number as a way to contact her.
Dr. Larry W. Nelson is a psychiatrist at Hall Institute and is an expert in dissociative disorders. He has been treating wife since 1988 and diagnoses her as having major depression, multiple personality disorder, arthritis, hypothyroidism, Reynaud's syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome and urethral stenosis. Regarding the dissociative disorder or multiple personality disorder, he identified 21 or 22 separate personalities in wife and stated that switches from one to the other may be spontaneous or triggered by stress. Four or five are childlike personalities which she created when she was being sexually abused as a child. Others are teenage personalities, some in 20's and others in 40's and 50's. He states that a person's physiology causes different brain waves from one personality to another. Wife cannot generally bring out the personalities on her own and personalities may last from a few seconds to several months. On questions from the court, Nelson stated a person can fake the disorder and he stated that wife may not know what she is doing in another personality state including having sex with another man. He said the "Rose" personality told him of the affair with Tedder and stated that wife Carol does not remember it or know anything about it. He further described the extreme multiple personality disorder as a form of dissociation of memories from the past and can be totally separated from the stream of consciousness. He analogized this structure with a television set in that as one observes the viewing channel the programs are still being conducted on other channels simultaneously. He stated that wife has a different set of memories and recordings for each personality.
On cross examination, Dr. Nelson retreated to a large degree from his direct testimony. The following exchanges took place on cross examination:
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Rutherford v. Rutherford
...TOAL, Justice: This domestic action is before this Court on writ of certiorari to the Court of Appeals. Rutherford v. Rutherford, 303 S.C. 424, 401 S.E.2d 177 (Ct.App.1990). This case presents three issues on appeal: (1) what is the proper standard of appellate review in domestic actions fr......
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