Court Opinion

ID: 9711663
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 04:36:23.434794+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:06.557735
License: Public Domain

*405PAPADAKOS, Justice,
concurring.
Although I continue to adhere to the principles enunciated in Estate of Geyer, 516 Pa. 492, 533 A.2d 423 (1987), I concur in the result because the facts fully support the existence of a valid and enforceable agreement between the parties and any suggestion of duress is totally negated by the facts. The full and fair disclosure, as well as the lack of unfairness and inequity, standards reiterated in Geyer are supported by the facts in this case so that I can concur in the result.
However, I cannot join the opinion authored by Mr. Justice Flaherty, because, it must be clear to all readers, it contains a number of unnecessary and unwarranted declarations regarding the “equality” of women. Mr. Justice Flaherty believes that, with the hard-fought victory of the Equal Rights Amendment in Pennsylvania, all vestiges of inequality between the sexes have been erased and women are now treated equally under the law. I fear my colleague does not live in the real world. If I did not know him better I would think that his statements smack of male chauvinism, an attitude that “you women asked for it, now live with it.” If you want to know about equality of women, just ask them about comparable wages for comparable work. Just ask them about sexual harassment in the workplace. Just ask them about the sexual discrimination in the Executive Suites of big business. And the list of discrimination based on sex goes on and on.
I view prenuptial agreements as being in the nature of contracts of adhesion with one party generally having greater authority than the other who deals in a subservient role. I believe the law protects the subservient party, regardless of that party’s sex, to insure equal protection and treatment under the law.
The present case does not involve the broader issues to which the gratuitous declarations in question are addressed, and it is injudicious to offer declarations in a case which does not involve those issues. Especially when those declarations are inconsistent with reality.