Opinion ID: 2353690
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: intolerable cruelty

Text: We next address the defendant's claim that the trial court erred in granting the dissolution on the ground of intolerable cruelty. [I]ntolerable cruelty has a subjective as well as an objective significance. There must not only be proof of acts of cruelty on the part of the defendant, but proof that in their cumulative effect upon the plaintiff they are intolerable in the sense of rendering the continuance of the marital relation unbearable by him [or her]. VanGuilder v. Van-Guilder, 100 Conn. 1, 3, 122 A. 719 (1923); Gowdy v. Gowdy, 120 Conn. 508, 510, 181 A. 462 (1935); see Taylor v. Taylor, 154 Conn. 340, 342-43, 225 A.2d 196 (1966). The trial court found that beginning in early 1979 the defendant's attitude toward both the plaintiff and his children was increasingly one of impatience and indifference.... On two separate occasions during the summer and fall of 1979 plaintiff became ill. She contracted several breast infections after Christopher's birth. She had to call on her mother for help because during these periods the defendant would not take care of the family even though his only work consisted of ... several hours per month .... On two different occasions during this same period the defendant struck the plaintiff in the presence of the children. During the month of February, 1980, the defendant openly admitted to having a sexual relationship with a neighbor. In March of 1980 the defendant ordered the plaintiff to leave the family home and threatened physical harm if she returned. These facts are supported by the testimony of the plaintiff, and are not seriously challenged by the defendant. The fact that the testimony is uncorroborated does not make it insufficient to support a finding of fact if the testimony is believed by the trier. Jarrett v. Jarrett, 151 Conn. 180, 182, 195 A.2d 430 (1963); see Dombrowski v. Dombrowski, 169 Conn. 85, 86, 362 A.2d 907 (1975). The trial court found that the marriage should be dissolved on the basis of the defendant's intolerable cruelty. The defendant contends that the facts found do not demonstrate a continued and persistent course of conduct or a series of acts or circumstances occurring while the parties are still living together; McCarthy v. McCarthy, 123 Conn. 409, 412, 195 A. 607 (1937); as required for a finding of intolerable cruelty. He claims that his conduct consisted only of isolated acts spread over a period of time. Whether there exists a continued and persistent course of conduct is not determined by a particular time span, but rather by the behavior of the parties. [5] The court found that, over a period of slightly more than a year, the defendant was impatient and indifferent toward the plaintiff when she was ill, that he struck her on two different occasions, and that he evicted her from her home on threat of physical injury. No evidence was offered that the plaintiff directed any violence toward the defendant. Where the trial court finds that physical abuse by only one party has been repeated, it is reasonable for the court to conclude that a continuing course of conduct is established. The trial court's finding that the behavior of the defendant constituted a continuing course of conduct is clearly supported by the record. In cases like the one before us, it would be archaic and absurd to hold that the plaintiff was under an obligation to be beaten more often in order to establish a continuing course of conduct. The facts found indicate that the defendant's attitude toward the plaintiff had become indifferent and uncaring for months before the striking incidents. He was at times openly hostile and cruel, as when he conformed the plaintiff with his own adultery. [6] He had struck her twice, for no apparent reason. In this atmosphere, a person in the plaintiff's position could reasonably believe that the physical abuse would either continue or escalate. It would thereafter be reasonable to consider that the continuation of the marital relationship would be unbearable. The trial court did not err, but reasonably concluded that the defendant's actions constituted intolerable cruelty.