Court Opinion

ID: 9673739
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 04:17:24.683697+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:23.823258
License: Public Domain

Otis, Justice
(dissenting).
As the majority points out, actions of this kind are not a favorite of the law and have been abolished by statute in a number of jurisdictions. I share the concern demonstrated by the trial judge in his abortive effort to grant defendant a new trial, Gorder v. Sims, 297 Minn. 346, 211 N. W. 2d 369 (1973).
Jury awards in actions of this kind are explicitly or implicitly in the nature of punitive damages. Accordingly, they should be limited to an amount which is commensurate with the gravity of defendant’s intrusion into plaintiff’s marital relationship. The *285record here is replete with evidence that plaintiff’s own misconduct played a substantial role in alienating his wife’s affections. Under these circumstances and in the light of the trial court’s judgment that a new trial should have been granted, I believe the interests of justice would be better served if the verdict were reduced to the sum of $5,000.