Court Opinion

ID: 9743811
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 21:44:19.573349+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:43.854453
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE HEIPLE, dissenting: This is a malpractice case against an unlicensed clinical psychologist. The gist of the malpractice claim is that during the so-called course of treatment, a sexual relationship developed between the “patient” and the “psychologist.” The “treatment” began in March of 1979 and continued until October of 1980. During this period of time, the plaintiff and the defendant repeatedly engaged in mutually agreeable sexual intercourse. The plaintiff now claims that this sexual relationship disturbed her psychological well-being. She would like the defendant to pay her damages of $3.75 million. This is not a proper claim for malpractice. It should not be recognized in law. There is no suggestion that the plaintiff in this case was a minor, was mentally retarded or was under any other legal disability. She knew what she was doing and did it. At the moment the sexual relationship began, the treatment relationship ended. From that time forward, the plaintiff and the defendant were engaged in a frolic, a mutually agreeable detour from any recognized or accepted treatment regimen. To hold the defendant legally liable under such conditions is to countenance a legal form of extortion or blackmail. The law should not permit it. The complaint should be dismissed. Even if such a claim were to be recognized, the attempt to fit this type of claim into a negligence or willful and wanton format is wholly misplaced. There is no allegation that the parties fell off a bed or injured any part of the plaintiff’s anatomy. The plaintiff, having willingly engaged in a frolic, now seeks to use the legal system as a tool for a shakedown. Accordingly, I dissent.