The complaint is as old as history, but difficult to prove in a modern court of law. But that isn't stopping William C. Maples.
After catching his wife of five years with another man, Maples sued her for divorce. Then he sued the man, claiming he caused the divorce.Maples wants Mark Leopardi of Bountiful to pay for the costs of the divorce and the lawsuit, as well as for emotional distress and punitive damages.
"I'm not a vindictive person," said Maples, 32, of Kaysville. "But when you go out and do something wrong, you have to be willing to pay the consequences. This man has wronged me, wrecked my life, wrecked my son's life, wrecked my wife's life, for that matter."
Leopardi is fighting back with a countersuit in which he denies Maples' claims.
The woman in the case, Lisa Maples, isn't saying anything.
Maples' alienation of affection lawsuit is based on a concept stretching back to English common law. The Utah Supreme Court upheld the cause of action in 1991 in a Weber County case that remains pending.
Such suits remain rare, however. Most recently, in Salt Lake County, a woman filed a $5 million suit against her husband's alleged mistress. Attorney Bel-Ami de Montreux said his client was attempting to chase away "the other woman."
It worked. Montreux dismissed the suit a few days after it was filed in August, when the couple re-con-ciled.
Maples' attorney, Dean Ellis, said his lawsuit is different. The Maples' divorce was final last week, and William Maples isn't interested in getting his wife back. Instead, Maples firmly believes Leopardi owes him.
Maples' lawsuit doesn't list figures. He's asking that a jury determine appropriate compensation. In addition to legal costs and damages, he wants Leopardi to pay for the costs of medical testing for sexually transmitted diseases and the $400 per month in support he paid his wife while the divorce was pending.
Leopardi couldn't be reached for comment.
Maples said he's also concerned that he may have to change careers and leave the armed forces. He was given physical custody of the couple's 2-year-old son and isn't sure how he will juggle child care and a job that takes him away from home for days at a time.
Maples contends in the suit that his ex-wife suffers from alcoholism and that Leopardi took advantage of her when she'd been drinking. He claims Leopardi and Lisa Maples spent the evening together at least once before March 21 and on March 22. William Maples filed for divorce on March 27.
Attorneys who have filed similar suits say they are tough to win.
The suits also can get messy.
"It can be dirty," Montreux said. "They can go deep into your life."
It's particularly difficult if the departed spouse stays with the accused lover, as in the Weber County case of Greg Norton versus Ralph Macfarlane.
Ogden attorney Jean Babilis filed the suit in 1987 that would reach the state Supreme Court. In the suit, Norton claimed Mac-far-lane induced Sherry Norton to leave her husband.
Babilis said his client is evaluating what he wants to do. He said they anticipate, however, that Sherry Norton, who has since married Macfarlane, would claim that there were other problems with her marriage to Norton.
And an accused lover probably isn't going to testify, " `Yeah, I stole them away, I alienated their feelings,' " Babilis said.
He estimates some 26 other states have abolished alienation of affection suits, which he says were based on an "archaic" idea.
"The old principle used to be that a woman was a chattel and was owned and no one should play with someone else's chattel," he said.
But he believes the suits today serve a purpose, noting the potential deadly consequences of infidelity, such as AIDS.