Court considers right to sue for theft of spouse's love

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- If the state Supreme Court agrees with Sivi Noellsch, husbands and wives in Missouri would lose the right to sue someone for stealing a spouse's love and breaking up a marriage.

But if Katherine Helsel prevails, Missouri will remain among the nine states that allow lawsuits for "alienation of affection."

Attorneys for the two women appeared before the court Tuesday to make their cases in Noellsch's appeal of a $75,000 jury verdict against her.

Helsel had filed suit in 2001 blaming her divorce on Noellsch, a St. Joseph chiropractor who met Helsel's husband while treating him.

Rooted in common law, alienation of affection has traditionally been recognized by courts as a civil wrong even where -- as in Missouri -- it is not mentioned in a state's own laws.

It is a separate issue from adultery, which involves sexual activity with a married person. Alienation of affection generally requires proof that someone knowingly interfered with a couple's loving relationship.

"Most states have abolished the alienation of affection claim either by court decision or by legislation," University of Missouri law professor Doug Abrams said. "The trend is to abolish it."

Legislatures in 33 states and courts in six states have abolished alienation of affection as the basis of a lawsuit, while two others never accepted it.

Noellsch eventually married Helsel's ex-husband, David Helsel, and has maintained that she did not have a romantic relationship until he had filed for divorce.

But the heart of her appeal is that alienation of affection is an archaic part of civil law, left over from times when a woman was considered the property of a man.

Noellsch's attorney, Dennis Owens, argued Tuesday that the Supreme Court should have abolished alienation of affection as the basis of civil lawsuits when it did so with adultery in 1994.

Some judges wondered if other people can be sued for alienation of affection.

"What about the minister who counsels a married person to leave his or her spouse?" Judge Michael Wolff asked.

Judge Laura Denvir Stith wondered if juries might be asked to award damages "every time someone says 'He's a jerk, you should leave him.'"

Helsel's attorney, Craig Ritchie, said he doubted a counselor would be found liable and that he knew of no Missouri cases involving the scenario suggested by Stith.