Case Name: James T. FADGEN, Appellee, v. George LENKNER, Appellant
Court: Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Jurisdiction: Pennsylvania
Decision Date: 1976-10-08
Citations: 469 Pa. 272
Docket Number: No. 177
Parties: James T. FADGEN, Appellee, v. George LENKNER, Appellant.
Judges: Before JONES, C. J., and EAGEN, O’BRIEN, ROBERTS, POMEROY, NIX and MANDERINO, JJ.
Reporter: Pennsylvania State Reports
Volume: 469
Pages: 272–291

Head Matter:
365 A.2d 147
James T. FADGEN, Appellee, v. George LENKNER, Appellant.
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.
Argued March 8, 1976.
Decided Oct. 8, 1976.
Richard H. Martin, Pittsburgh, for appellant.
William C. Bartley, Pittsburgh, for appellee.
Before JONES, C. J., and EAGEN, O’BRIEN, ROBERTS, POMEROY, NIX and MANDERINO, JJ.

Opinion:
OPINION OF THE COURT
JONES, Chief Justice.
Appellee, James T. Fadgen, brought an action in trespass against appellant, George Lenkner, based upon the theory of criminal conversation. The complaint alleged that appellee and one Bonnie Hoch Fadgen were married in 1972 and that during the period of this marriage, the appellant, without the consent of appellee Fadgen, criminally conversed with Ms. Fadgen. Pursuant to Rule 1037(c) of the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure, appellee moved the court below to enter judgment against appellant on the issue of liability based upon the latter's written admission that he had engaged in sexual intercourse with appellee's wife while the marriage continued.
The Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Civil Division, sitting en banc, granted the appellee's motion for judgment upon admission. Thereafter, George Lenkner appealed to the Superior Court which affirmed per curiam, 231 Pa.Super. 775, 331 A.2d 537. This appeal followed.
This Court last reviewed an action similar to the one presently at bar in 1959. In Karchner v. Mumie, 398 Pa. 13, 156 A.2d 537 (1959), the Court upheld a jury verdict in favor of the plaintiff-wife based upon the tort of criminal conversation where appellant-defendant had sought reversal on the ground that the cause of action as developed at common law was only available to married men as against an erring spouse's paramour. The Court reasoned that the Married Women's Property Act of June 8, 1893, P.L. 344, as amended by the Act of May 17, 1945, P.L. 625, mandated the extension to married women of the right to bring such an action on their own behalf. Id. at pp. 15-17, 156 A.2d at pp. 538-39.
It is clear, however, that that first step directed towards fusing the ancient with the "modern" of 1959 was not sufficient revitalization such as to weather the rapid legal and societal changes witnessed over the past fifteen years. We might look back and well appreciate that, absent the benefit of attitudes reflected in the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, the Court in 1959 nevertheless laudibly rejected the fictitious notion that a wife, like a servant, was the personal property (chattel as it were) of the husband and that an action in criminal conversation was a right sacrosanct to none but the master. Still, the Court's extension to married women of the right to bring such a cause of action only delayed what today demands; that is, the total abolition of a pious yet unrighteous cause of action.
Against the social background of the 18th century, Blackstone wrote,
"Adultery or criminal conversation with a man's wife, though it is, as a public crime, left by our laws to the coercion of the spiritual courts; yet, considered as a civil injury (and surely there can be no greater) the law gives satisfaction to the husband for it by an action of trespass ir et armis against the adulterer; damages recovered are usually very large and exemplary."
3 Black Com. edited by Wendell 139 (1768).
One of several civil actions directed at protecting against intentional interferences with the marital relationship, criminal conversation comes closest in form to a strict liability tort. The cause of action is made out upon plaintiff's proof that while married to plaintiff, plaintiff's spouse and the defendant engaged in at least a single act of sexual intercourse without the consent of plaintiff. Baldridge v. Matthews, 378 Pa. 566, 568, 106 A.2d 809, 810 (1954); Antonelli v. Xenakis, 363 Pa. 375, 376, 69 A.2d 102 (1949); Restatement of Torts § 685 at p. 477 (1938). There are but two possible complete defenses to the action: one, obviously, is an outright denial by the defendant of having had any such relation with plaintiff's spouse; the other occurs upon proof that the plaintiff consented to the adulterous relation. Prosser, Law of Torts, § 124, at p. 879 (Fourth Ed. 1971); Restatement of Torts § 687, comments (a) and (b), at pp. 482-83 (1938). See also Note, Criminal Conversation, Civil Action for Adultery, 25 Baylor L.Rev. 495 at 497 (1973).
It is no defense to the action, however, that the plaintiff's spouse consented nor in fact that the spouse was the aggressor or seducer. Sieber v. Pettit, 200 Pa. 58, 49 A. 763 (1901); Durning v. Hastings, 183 Pa. 210, 38 A. 627 (1897). As to the former, it was thought at common law that a wife was not competent to give her consent so as to defeat her husband's interest. Tinker v. Colwell, 193 U.S. 473, 483, 24 S.Ct. 505, 48 L.Ed. 754 (1903). As to the justification for eliminating the de fense that the wife initiated and pursued the adulterous relationship, in addition to the belief at common law that she was incapable of prejudicing her husband's rights, the law burdensomely presuming the superiority of men over women chastized:
"The man who breaks up the home of his neighbor by debauching his wife, rendering his children worse than motherless, is not excused because he is weak, and, being tempted by the woman, falls."
Seiber v. Pettit, 200 Pa. 58 at 67, 49 A. 763 (1901).
" . . . it is but the old cowardly excuse set up by the first man, 'The woman gave me of the tree, and I did eat.' It did not save from the penalty the first defendant, and cannot, under the law, save this one."
Id. at p. 69, 49 A. at 765. See also Tinker v. Colwell, supra; Durning v. Hastings, 183 Pa. 210, 211-212, 38 A. 627 (1897). Such factors bearing on the issue of fault are not admissible except with reference to mitigating damages. Matusak v. Kulezenski, 295 Pa. 208, 145 A. 94 (1928); Seiber v. Pettit, 200 Pa. 58, 69, 49 A. 763 (1901); Mathies v. Mazet, 164 Pa. 580, 30 A. 434 (1894). Moreover, a man could not plead ignorance of the marital status of the adulterer: "A man who has sexual relations with a woman, not his wife, assumes the risk that she is married. Even her misrepresentation that she is single affords the offender no defense to lia bility for criminal conversation. . . . " Antonelli v. Xenakis, supra, 363 Pa. at 378, 69 A.2d at 103.
We, of course, in no way condone sexual promiscuity and continue to hold the institution of marriage in the highest regard. However, the reasoning developed at common law behind stripping a defendant of all defenses to an action in criminal conversation, save the plaintiff's consent, no longer merits endorsement.
Damages alleged in an action for criminal conversation are compensatory, covering injury to the plaintiff's social position, disgrace in the community where he or she lives or was in business and dishonor to plaintiff and plaintiff's family. Karchner v. Mumie, supra; Antonelli v. Xenakis, supra; DiSanti v. Cassidy, 63 Pa.D. & C.2d 6 (1973). "And, a single act of adultery is sufficient to entitle the husband of the woman to damages in an action against the adulterer for criminal conversation even though the husband sustains no further loss: Antonelli v. Xenakis, supra, 363 Pa. at 377, 69 A.2d 102; Restatement, Torts, § 683, Comment c.; § 685, Comment b." DiSanti v. Cassidy, Supra, 63 Pa.D. & C.2d at 9. Punitive damages have been held to be appropriate as well. Joseph v. Naylor, 257 Pa. 561, 101 A. 846 (1917); Cornelius v. Hambay, 150 Pa. 359, 24 A. 515 (1892); Lippmann, supra, at 656-57. Computations for the type of injury alleged here is always inexact and as Blackstone warned "usually very large and exemplary." This is so not only by virtue of the abstract nature of the injuries alleged but is further exacerbated by the emotion-laden nature of the proceedings. See Note, supra, n. 4, at 433-34; Greer, Criminal Conversation: Civil Action for Adultery, 25 Baylor L.Rev. 495, 499 (1973) [hereinafter referred to as "Greer"].
A variety of authorities have noted how seriously prone to abuse this sort of action is where "the threat of exposure, publicity, and notoriety is more than sufficient to breed corruption, fraud, and misdealings on the part of unscrupulous persons in bringing unjustified and maliicous [sic] suits." Greer, supra, at 500. Prosser succinctly summarizes:
"Those actions for interference with domestic relations which carry an accusation of sexual misbehavior — that is to say, criminal conversation, seduction, and to some extent alienation of affections — have been peculiarly susceptible to abuse. Together with the action for breach of promise to marry, it is notorious that they have afforded a fertile field for blackmail and extortion by means of manufactured suits in which the threat of publicity is used to force a settlement. There is good reason to believe that even genuine actions of this type are brought more frequently than not with purely mercenary or vindictive motives; that it is impossible to compensate for such damage with what has derisively been called 'heartbalm'; that people of any decent instincts do not bring an action which merely adds to the family disgrace; and that no preventive purpose is served, since such torts seldom are committed with deliberate plan."
Prosser, supra, at 887 and authorities cited therein.
We in no way intend to infer such motives on the part of the appellee in the instant case by pointing to the potential abuses to which this action is susceptible. However, we believe the cause of action itself is an anachronism and that in today's society it is unreasona ble to impose upon a defendant such harsh results without affording any real opportunity to interject logically valid defenses on the merits such as the role of the plaintiff's spouse in the adulterous relationship or the quality of the plaintiff's marriage prior to the occurrence of the acts constituting the tort.
The total abolition of this cause of action is well within the bounds of our judicial powers. In fact, it is our duty to so act with regard to court-made rules where "reason and a right sense of justice recommend it." Ayala v. Philadelphia Board of Public Education, 453 Pa. 584, 600, 305 A.2d 877, 885 (1973); Falco v. Pados, 444 Pa. 372, 382, 282 A.2d 351, 356 (1971). Cessante ratione legis, cessat et ipsa lex. Commonwealth v. Ladd, 402 Pa. 164, 174-175, 166 A.2d 501, (1960); Appeal of Cummings, 11 Pa. 273, 276 (1948), Appellee admits that there is no vested right in the continued recognition of all causes of action, Munn v. Illinois, 94 U.S. 113, 134, 24 L.Ed. 77 (1876); however, it is argued that the doctrine of stare decisis, which advances precedent for the sake of certainty in cases factually similar, prevents our action today. We disagree.
We have often stated that while the principle of stare decisis is a wise course of judicial action, it is not an ironclad rule and is to be controlling only where applicable. So that, when it is determined that a past precedent is no longer in accord with modern realities, and the rationale justifying the old rule no longer finds support, then the pledge to certainty gives way "to new conditions and to the persuasion of superior reasoning." Griffith v. United Air Lines, 416 Pa. 1, 23, 203 A.2d 796, 806 (1964). As we said in Flagiello v. Pennsylvania Hospital, 417 Pa. 486, 208 A.2d 193 (1965), quoting Justice Cardozo:
" '[W]hen a rule, after it has been duly tested by experience, has been found to be inconsistent with the sense of justice or with the social welfare, there should be less hesitation in frank avowal and full abandonment. . . . There should be greater readiness to abandon an untenable position when the rule to be discarded may not reasonably be supposed to have determined the conduct of the litigants, and particularly when in its origin it was the product of institutions or conditions which have gained a new significance or development with the progress of the years.' " (Emphasis added).
Id. at 514, 208 A.2d at 207.
" 'Precedent speaks for the past; policy for the present and the future. The goal which we seek is a blend which takes into account in due proportion the wisdom of the past and the needs of the present.' "
Ayala v. Philadelphia Board of Public Education, supra, 453 Pa. at 603-04, 305 A.2d at 887.
The Order of the court below is vacated and the case remanded for the entry of judgment in favor of the appellant. The civil cause of action based upon the tort of criminal conversation is hereby abolished.
Each party to bear own costs.
NIX, J., joins the majority opinion and also joins the concurring opinion filed by MANDERINO, J.
MANDERINO, J., filed a concurring opinion.
ROBERTS and POMEROY, JJ., filed dissenting opinions.
. The order of the court below is as follows:
And Now, to wit, this 18th day of June, 1974, it is hereby ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that defendant's Preliminary objections are hereby denied. It is FURTHER ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that judgment on the issue of liability is granted in favor of the plaintiff and that such constitutes a final Order of this Court.
And it is FURTHER ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that all discovery in this case relating to the issues of damages be deferred pending appeal of the aforesaid Order of this Court."
For the purposes of this appeal, we elect to treat the lower court's order as a certification of the question of whether or not the cause of action in trespass based upon the theory of criminal conversation retains vitality in light of modern legal and societal changes. See Act of 1970, July 31, P.L. 673, No. 223, Art. V, § 501(b), 17 P.S. 211.501(b).
. For historical background on criminal conversation see Lippmann, The Breakdown of Consortium, 30 Col.L.Rev. 651, 654-660 (1930) [hereinafter referred to as "Lippmann"].
. The ecclesiastic court alone had jurisdiction over the criminal counterpart of the action at common law based on criminal conversation; that is, the crime of adultery. Lippmann, supra, at p. 656. Today, adultery and the civil action in criminal conversation are still considered synonymous, the former vindicating the public proscription while the latter is seen as indicating a private right. Karchner v. Mumie, supra; Cornelius v. Hambay, 150 Pa. 359, 24 A. 515 (1892).
. See Note, the Case for Retention of Causes of Action for Intentional Interference with the Marital Relationship, 48 Notre Dame Lawyer, 426, 427 (1972), wherein the author posits that statutory and judicial abolition of the tort actions known as "alienation of affections" and "enticement" is uncalled for and unfairly undermines the marriage institution. However, the author shows no like sympathy for criminal conversation. Id. at 433-34.
. Prosser, citing 8 Holdsworth, History of English Law, 2d Edition 1937, 430, provides us with the following choice tidbit: . . it was considered that she was no more capable of giving a consent which would prejudice the husband's interests than was his horse." Prosser, supra, at 875.
. Compare Mission v. Grossman, 329 Pa. 151, 152, 196 A. 494 (1938), setting forth proof previously demanded to make out an action for "alienation of affections" prior to the enactment of the Act of June 22, 1935, P.L. 450, § 1, as amended by Act of June 15, 1937, P.L. 2317, § 1, 48 P.S. § 170, which abolished civil causes of action for alienation of affections (except in certain cases not relevant here) as well as breach of promise to marry. See also Lippmann, supra; Prosser, Law of Torts, § 124 (Fourth Ed. 1971); Note, The Case for Retention of Causes of Action for Intentional Interference with the Marital Relationship, 48 Notre Dame Lawyer 426 (1972).
. Under our new Crimes Code, the Pennsylvania legislature has seen fit to abolish the crime of adultery, serving to decriminalize the very behavior upon which an action in criminal conversation rests. Act of December 6, 1972, P.L. 1482, No. 334, § 1, 18 Pa.C.S.A. 101 et seq.
[The anomaly presents itself that the plaintiff's spouse, under the eyes of the law, is guilty of nothing and liable to no one but him or herself, raising possible Equal Protection problems.]
To date, ten states have adopted statutes abolishing the cause of action for criminal conversation entirely: Ala.Code Tit. 7, 115 (1960); Cal.Civ.Code 43.5 (West's 1954); Colo.Rev.Stat.Ann. 41- 3-1 (1964); Conn.Gen.Stat.Ann. § 52-572Í (1971); Fla.Stat.Ann. 771.01-07 (1964); Ind.Ann.Stat. 2-508 (1967); Mich.Comp.Laws 551.301 (1967); N.J.Rev.Stat. 2A:23-1 (1952); N.Y.Civ.Rights Law 80-A (McKinney Supp.1970); Wyo.Stat.Ann. 1-728 (1959). See also Ill.Rev.Stat. Ch. 68 § 41-44 (limiting damages, although the action is not abolished); Henley v. Rockett, 243 Ala. 172, 8 So.2d 852 (1942) (modifying the cause of action as it existed at common law).
. We recently approved this principle in Singer v. Sheppard, 464 Pa. 387, 346 A.2d 897 (1975), wherein we quoted at length from Jackman v. Rosenbaum Co., 263 Pa. 158, 175, 106 A. 238, 244 (1919), aff'd 260 U.S. 22, 43 S.Ct. 9, 67 L.Ed. 107 (1922):
" 'The fundamental principles of the common law, while liable to expansion, are in essence unchangeable, but their applicability to given conditions necessarily varies according to changes wrought by usage or statutory enactment; and, pursuing this thought, what today is a trespass, may, by development of law, not be so tomorrow. Therefore, it will not do to say (as plaintiff does), since, once upon a time, at common law [an event] would have been a tort, giving rise to a claim for damages [when], under present conditions, the law views [the events] as constituting no wrongful . . act.' "
Singer, supra, at 399, 346 A.2d at 903.
. For a listing of cases in which this Court has abandoned outmoded common law doctrines, see also, Ayala, supra, 453 Pa. at 605-06, 305 A.2d at 888.