New Jersey Injury Lawyer Blog

The purpose of this blog is to follow up on information concerning various potential causes of action, which were discussed in our May 4, 2010 blog. In that blog, we discussed potential causes of action by one parent against another parent and by children against a parent for intentional or negligent infliction of emotional distress due to parental actions. Those possibilities were discussed with regard to a lawsuit that was filed against Miami Heat star Dwayne Wade by his wife during the pendency of a divorce action.

Interestingly, a day before our blog was published, the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division in Segal v. Lynch discussed issues similar in nature to the Wade case as well as the issues discussed in our blog. In Segal, the father, who was a non-custodial parent of two minor children, who brought an action on behalf of his children against their mother for the negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Unlike the Wade case, however, the plaintiff here alleged that the basis of the infliction of emotion distress were the actions undertaken by the mother to alienate the children from the father. For instance, the plaintiff father alleged that the mother blocked all of his emails to the children, and forbade the children from emailing or otherwise contacting their father for a period greater than three months. Additionally, the father alleged that the mother told the children "false and spiteful things" about him. The father claimed that once visitation continued after this three-month period, it was clear to him that the mother's actions had a "negative impact" on his relationship with the children. In support of this claim, the father pointed to a court appointed psychologist's opinion, which determined that the mother did engage in "alienating behavior with the children."

As suspected in our prior blog, the father's claim for alienation of affections was similarly under New Jersey's Heart Balm Statute (N.J.S.A. 2A:23-1). The court then went on to discuss the proofs required to support claims of negligent and intentional emotional distress. In this regard, the court found no barrier of one parent asserting such a cause of action against another parent. However, the court's analysis went further in dealing with such a cause of action where the "best interest of the children" was the pivotal issue.

In this case of first impression, the Appellate Division cited the court's parens patriae responsibility, which requires the court to "care for and protect those unable to do so for themselves such as children." The court then balanced the "fundamental principles" of a child's best interest against the rights of civil litigants to obtain compensation for their injuries from a tortfeasor. The court acknowledged that the acknowledgment of either interest would cause detriment to the other.

In noting that the main issues in such a litigation would require the children to provide significant evidence about their relationships with their parents and, in effect, provide testimony "against" one parent or the other, the court concluded that allowing such a case to go forward would be in direct contravention to the best interest of the children. Accordingly, under the facts set forth in the plaintiff's complaint, the court dismissed the cause of action for intentional infliction of emotional distress. In doing so, however, the court did not foreclosure the possibility of one parent pursuing such a cause of action. Instead, the court indicated that such an action would be better suited for the Family Part and that a Family Part Judge would be better served in evaluating and determining the "legal ethnicity" of such a cause of action in the preliminary stages of any such litigation process. It remains to be seen whether or not this matter will make its way to the Supreme Court of New Jersey to further clarify this opinion.

In any event, it would appear that the current State of New Jersey law is not far from what is set forth in our prior blog. However, the Appellate has indicated that such claims must be brought in the Family Part as opposed to the Law Division so that Family Part Judges may "weed out" cases early on in the process. Thus, the cases must handled on a "case-by-case" basis by the Family Part Judge assigned to the matter to determine whether or not a factual basis exists to go forward.