Diemer v. Diemer
New York Court of Appeals
8 N.Y.2d 206, 203 N.Y.S.2d 829, 168 N.E.2d 654 (1960)
- Written by Steven Pacht, JD
Facts
William Diemer (husband) (plaintiff) was Protestant; Gilberte Diemer (wife) (defendant) was Roman Catholic. Before marrying, the husband and wife agreed that the husband’s faith would be her faith, and the Diemers were married in a Protestant church. Several years later, the wife began to feel more strongly about being Catholic, and she came to believe that her marriage to the husband was invalid in the eyes of the Catholic Church. Based on this view, the wife told the husband that she would not have sex with him unless and until they remarried in a Catholic church. Over the next several months, the husband sought to change the wife’s mind, but the wife continued to refuse to have sex with him. The husband ultimately left the marital home and sued the wife seeking legal separation and custody of the couple’s daughter. Per the husband, the requested relief was warranted by the wife’s alleged cruel and inhuman treatment, which had caused him to suffer and seriously impaired his physical and mental well-being. The husband did not contend that the wife had abandoned him. The wife counterclaimed for separation, support, and custody. However, the wife conceded that she had refused to have sex with the husband unless and until the couple remarried in a Catholic church. The trial court denied both the husband’s and the wife’s requests for a separation and awarded custody to the wife. The trial court reasoned that the wife had not engaged in cruel and inhuman treatment because she had not willfully and deliberately intended to harm the husband and because the husband had not suffered any actual health damage. The appellate division affirmed. The husband appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Fuld, J.)
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