Van Ellen v. Meyer
| Decision Date | 23 May 1973 |
| Docket Number | No. 55604,55604 |
| Citation | 207 N.W.2d 552 |
| Parties | Darrell D. Van ELLEN, Appellant, v. Wendell Dean MEYER, Appellee. |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
Shepard & Shepard, Allison, for appellant.
David R. Nagle, Evansdale, for appellee.
Heard before MOORE, C.J., and MASON, REES, UHLENHOPP and McCORMICK, JJ.
The sole issue raised here by plaintiff's appeal is whether the right to bring an action for alienation of affections is barred, under section 598.20, Code, 1971, by a decree of dissolution of marriage absent a reservation of right to bring such an action in the dissolution decree.
Plaintiff-appellant, Darrell D. Van Ellen, and his wife Linda K., were married December 20, 1963. On January 7, 1972, this marriage was dissolved on the wife's petition. Following dissolution Darrell filed an action for damages against defendant, Wendell Dean Meyer, for alleged alienation of Linda's affections.
Defendant filed a motion to dismiss plaintiff's petition on the ground it failed to plead a cause of action on which any relief could be granted. On submission of the motion the parties by stipulation made the dissolution decree a part of the record. It included no reservation to plaintiff of any right or claim of alienation of affections.
The trial court relied on our holdings in Hamilton v. McNeill, 150 Iowa 470, 129 N.W. 480 (1911) and Duff v. Henderson, 191 Iowa 819, 183 N.W. 475 (1921) that a right of action for damages for alienation of affections is a 'right acquired by the marriage' and sustained defendant's motion to dismiss.
As early as 1851 and until July 1, 1970 our divorce laws included this statute: 'When a divorce is decreed the guilty party forfeits all rights acquired by marriage.'
In reference to this statute (then Code section 3181) in Hamilton v. McNeill, supra, 150 Iowa at 474, 129 N.W. at 481, this court said:
Several of our later cases cite and apply this interpretation of the statute. In Duff v. Henderson, supra, 191 Iowa 819, 183 N.W. 475 (1921) we broadened the rule to also bar actions for criminal conversation. In Jacobsen v. Saner, 247 Iowa 191, 72 N.W.2d 900 (1955) we applied the statute and the Hamilton holding where the divorce had been granted in Minnesota. See also Allen v. Lindeman, 259 Iowa 1384, 148 N.W.2d 610 (1967) and Lundberg v. Allen, Iowa, 176 N.W.2d 775 (1970) both of which cite with approval Hamilton, Duff and Jacobsen.
Since these cases, however, a new termination of marriage law has been enacted as House File 1156, Acts of the Sixty-Third General Assembly. It became effective July 1, 1970 and is now chapter 598, The Code, 1973. The fault concept is eliminated as a standard for granting dissolution of a marital relationship. In Re Marriage of Tjaden, Iowa, 199 N.W.2d 475, 477 (1972); In Re Marriage of Williams, Iowa, 199 N.W.2d 339, 344 (1972).
As relevant here Code section 598.20 provides: 'When a dissolution is decreed the parties shall forfeit all rights acquired by marriage which are not specifically preserved in the decree. * * *.'
Plaintiff-appellant argues our established rule that the right to maintain an action for alienation of affections is a right acquired by marriage is contrary to the general rule in a majority of other jurisdictions and with the advent of the no fault concept it should no longer be followed. Like the trial court we do not agree.
It must be noted our new statute contains practically the same language as that previously used...
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...In support, Aquaslide cites Ohlen v. Harriman, 296 N.W.2d 794, 795 (Iowa 1980); Michael, 292 N.W.2d at 420; and Van Ellen v. Meyer, 207 N.W.2d 552, 553 (Iowa 1973). In each of those cases, however, a claim had not been preserved and the issue was whether a particular claim had to be preserv......
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...in the dissolution decree preserving the judgment, ended plaintiff's right to the judgment. He relies heavily on Van Ellen v. Meyer, Iowa, 207 N.W.2d 552, 554, where we interpreted for the first time Code section 598.20, which provides in "When a dissolution of marriage is decreed the parti......
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