‘Alienation of affection' divorce case rejected

The Kansas City Star, Nov 26, 2004

A Missouri Supreme Court ruling last summer that ended lawsuits against those who steal another's spouse has scuttled a $60,000 settlement awarded two years ago to an area man.

Steven Scott, principal of Fort Osage High School in Independence, had won the settlement after suing a man who had an affair with Scott's wife.

But an appeals court in Kansas City threw out the award Tuesday, saying the Missouri Supreme Court ruling applied to any cases pending when it was made last June. That ruling abolished the basis for lawsuits claiming “alienation of affection” — legalese for helping break up a marriage.

A three-judge panel dismissed the actual and punitive damages awarded by a Jackson County judge. It left intact, however, $125,000 the judge awarded Scott in a separate defamation claim against the same man.

Scott contended that Robert Leclercq, a Chicago area businessman, had an affair with Scott's wife that helped lead to their divorce in 2000. His ex-wife admitted the affair in sworn testimony.

In the defamation claim, Scott alleged Leclercq posed as a private detective in an Internet chat room and told a girl in Scott's school district that Scott, “a weird dude,” was “being investigated for harassment and sexual stuff.”

Leclercq also told the girl Scott was divorcing his wife and was unstable, harassing everyone his wife knew and accusing them of sleeping with her, according to court records. Scott also alleged that Leclercq listed Scott on a Web site as a homosexual soliciting homosexual relations.

The lawsuit served to Leclercq early in 2001 moved slowly as Leclercq refused to answer pretrial questions, the appeals court noted. In a July 2002 default judgment, Jackson County Circuit Judge John R. O'Malley found in Scott's favor on both counts.

Neither Leclercq nor his lawyer could be reached for comment Tuesday.

As a principal, Scott said the false allegations of sexual harassment created problems with superiors, students and their parents.

Scott also speculated that the case on alienation could have been though appeals by the time of the high court decision last year, had his opponent not delayed in court.

“I lost this because he was capable of dragging his feet,” Scott said.

The ruling Tuesday is not expected to affect more than a handful of cases, lawyers say, because alienation of affection cases were seldom filed.

In ending them entirely last year, the Missouri Supreme Court said in a 5-2 ruling that the archaic tort existed in only seven other states.

The idea originated in Germanic tribes that allowed a man to seek payment from his wife's lover so he could buy another wife.

The Missouri Supreme Court said husbands and wives were not each other's property.

To reach Joe Lambe, Jackson County courts reporter, call (816) 234-4314 or send e-mail to