Stanard v. Bolin

• Citation: 88 Wn.2d 614,565 P.2d 94
• Decision Date: 02 June 1977
• Docket Number: No. 44544,44544
• Parties: L. L. STANARD, Appellant, v. Raymond J. BOLIN, Respondent.
• Court: Washington Supreme Court

Page 614

88 Wn.2d 614

565 P.2d 94

L. L. STANARD, Appellant, v. Raymond J. BOLIN, Respondent.

No. 44544.

Supreme Court of Washington, En Banc.

June 2, 1977.

Jack H. Dibblee, Spokane, for appellant.

Delay, Curran & Boling, J. Donald Curran, Martin L. Salina, Spokane, for respondent.

HAMILTON, Associate Justice.

This appeal presents the question of whether the common-law action for breach of promise to marry should be abolished. The trial court concluded that the action was contrary to public policy and dismissed the plaintiff's (appellant's) complaint with prejudice under CR 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. We accepted review and conclude that the action is not contrary to public policy.

Because plaintiff's complaint was dismissed under CR 12(b)(6), the factual contentions of her complaint must be accepted as true for purposes of review. Barnum v. State, 72 Wash.2d 928, 435 P.2d 678 (1967). Plaintiff's complaint stated two claims for relief. Both claims alleged the same facts but prayed for different damages. We will first set forth the facts and conclude with plaintiff's prayers for relief.

In October, 1974, plaintiff and defendant (respondent) were introduced to each other by mutual friends, and their courtship developed soon thereafter. During the course of their courtship, defendant assured plaintiff that he was worth in excess of $2 million, was planning to retire in 2 years, and that the two of them would then travel. Defendant also promised plaintiff that she would never have to work again and that he would see to the support of her two teen-age boys. He also promised to see that the plaintiff's mother would never be in need.

On September 22, 1975, plaintiff accepted defendant's proposal of marriage. Thereafter, defendant took her to a jewelry store and purchased an engagement ring and matching wedding rings. The parties found a suitable home for their residence and signed the purchase agreement as husband and wife. At the insistance of defendant, plaintiff placed her home on the market for sale and sold most of her furniture at a public auction. The parties set December 13, 1975, as their wedding date, reserved a church, and engaged a minister to perform the service. Dresses for plaintiff, her mother, and the matron of honor were ordered, and a reception was arranged at a local establishment. The parties began informally announcing their plans to a wide circle of friends. After the wedding date was set, plaintiff's employer hired another person and requested plaintiff to assist in teaching the new employee the duties of her job.

On November 13, 1975, defendant informed plaintiff that he would not marry her. This came as a great shock to plaintiff and caused her to become ill and lose sleep and weight. Plaintiff sought medical advice and was treated by her physician. Plaintiff also had to take her home off the market and repurchase furniture at a cost in excess of that which she received for her older furniture. In addition plaintiff was forced to cancel all wedding plans and reservations, and to explain to her matron of honor, her mother, and her children, that she was not marrying. Plaintiff was also obliged to return wedding gifts and to face her friends and neighbors, each of whom felt entitled to an explanation.

In her first claim for relief, plaintiff sought damages to compensate her for her pain, impairment to health, humiliation, and embarrassment. Plaintiff's second claim sought damages to compensate her for her loss of expected financial security.

The breach-of-marriage-promise action has its origins in the common law. Professor Clark, a well-known authority on family law, has posited that 17th Century English conceptions of marriage as largely a property transaction caused the English common-law courts to intervene in a subject matter which, up until the 17th Century, had been almost exclusively under the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts. See H. Clark, The Law of Domestic Relations in the United States 2 (1968) (hereafter cited as Clark). In any event, the action was carried forward into the common law of Washington (see RCW 4.04.010) and was recognized by this court as early as 1905. See Heasley v. Nichols, 38 Wash. 485, 80 P. 769 (1905). Because the action has its origins in the common law and has not been acted upon by the legislature, it is proper for us to reexamine it and determine its continued viability in light of present-day society. See Freehe v. Freehe, 81 Wash.2d 183, 500 P.2d 771 (1972); Pierce v. Yakima Valley Memorial Hosp. Ass'n, 43 Wash.2d 162, 260 P.2d 765 (1953); Wyman v. Wallace, 15 Wash.App. 395, 549 P.2d 71 (1976).

The breach-of-promise-to-marry action is one not easy to classify. Although the action is treated as arising from the breach of a contract (the contract being the mutual promises to marry), the damages allowable more closely resemble a tort action. Thus, the plaintiff may recover for loss to reputation, mental anguish, and injury to health, in addition to recovering for expenditures made in preparation for the marriage and loss of the pecuniary and social advantages which the promised marriage offered. In addition, some states allow aggravated damages for seduction under promise to marry and for attacks by the defendant on the plaintiff's character. Furthermore, some states allow punitive damages when the defendant's acts were malicious or fraudulent. For a comprehensive discussion of the damages allowable under a breach-of-promise-to-marry action and a collection of cases, see Annot., Measure and elements of damages for breach of contract to marry, 73 A.L.R.2d 553 (1960), and C. McCormick, Handbook on the Law of Damages 397-406 (1935).

The action in its present form is subject to almost uniform criticism by the commentators, although our research has not disclosed any cases in which a court has abolished the action. ¹ In essence, these criticism are: (1) the action is used as an instrument of oppression and blackmail; (2) engaged persons should be allowed to correct their mistakes without fear of publicity and legal compulsion; (3) the action is subject to great abuse at the hands of gullible and sympathetic juries; (4) it is wrong to allow under the guise of contract an action that is essentially tortious and penal in nature; and, (5) the measure of damages is unjust because damages are allowed for loss of social and economic position, whereas most persons marry for reasons of mutual love and affection. See, e. g., 1 C. Vernier, American Family Laws 26-27 (1931); Brown, Breach of Promise Suits, 77 U.Pa.L.Rev. 474 (1929); Wright, The Action for Breach of the Marriage Promise, 10 Va.L.Rev. 361 (1924); White, Breach of Promise of Marriage, 10 L.Quar.Rev. 135 (1894). Although some of these criticisms are not without merit, we do not believe they justify an outright abolishment of the action.

When two persons agree to marry, they should realize that certain actions will be taken during the engagement period in reliance on the mutual promises to marry. Rings will be purchased, wedding dresses and other formal attire will be ordered or reserved, and honeymoon plans with their attendant expenses will be made. Wedding plans such as the rental of a church, the engagement of a minister, the printing of wedding invitations, and so on, will commence. It is also likely that the parties will make plans for their future residence, such as purchasing a house, buying furniture, and the like. Further at the time the parties decide to marry, they should realize that their plans and visions of future happiness will be communicated to friends and relatives and that wedding gifts soon will be arriving. When the plans to marry are abruptly ended, it is certainly foreseeable that the party who was unaware that the future marriage would not take place will have expended some sums of money and will suffer some forms of mental anguish, loss to reputation, and injury to health. We do not feel these injuries should go unanswered merely because the breach-of-promise-to-marry action may be subject to abuses; rather, an attempt should be made to eradicate the abuses from the action.

One major abuse of the action is allowing the plaintiff to bring in evidence of the defendant's wealth and social position. This evidence is admissible under the theory that the plaintiff should be compensated for what she or he has lost by not marrying the defendant. See, e. g., Bundy v. Dickinson, 108 Wash. 52, 182 P. 947 (1919); Larson v. McMillan, 99 Wash. 626, 170 P. 324 (1918); Fisher v. Kenyon, 56 Wash. 8, 104 P. 1127 (1909); and Heasley v. Nichols, supra.

Although damages for loss of expected financial and social position more closely resemble the contract theory of recovery than the other elements of damages for breach of promise to marry, we do not believe these damages are justified in light of modern society's concept of marriage. Although it may have been that marriages were contracted for material reasons in 17th Century England, marriages today generally are not considered property transactions, but are, in the words of Professor Clark, "the result of that complex experience called being in love." Clark, supra at 2. A person generally does not choose a marriage partner on the basis of financial and social gain; hence, the plaintiff should not be compensated for losing an expectation which he or she did not have in the first place. Further, the breach-of-promise-to-marry action is based on injuries to the plaintiff, and evidence of the defendant's wealth tends to misdirect the jury's attention when assessing the plaintiff's damages towards an examination of the defendant's wealth rather than the plaintiff's injuries.

Professor McCormick has concluded that evidence of the defendant's wealth has a more potent effect upon the size of the verdict than any instruction on damages. See C. McCormick, Handbook on the Law of...