Domestic relations exception does not bar diversity jurisdiction over action by ex-wife for intentional infliction of emotional distress

Friedlander v. Friedlander, 149 F.3d 739 (7th Cir. 1998).

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals held the domestic relations exception to diversity jurisdiction did not bar a woman's federal court action against her ex-husband for intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Here, a woman sued her former husband in state court to enforce alimony provisions. The suit was stayed pending arbitration. Later, the woman and her father filed a federal diversity action against the ex-husband for intentional infliction of emotional distress. Plaintiffs alleged defendant had threatened to reveal that the woman's father was not her natural father unless the father persuaded her to drop the state court proceeding. The trial court granted defendant's motion to dismiss, finding the domestic relations exception to diversity jurisdiction applied.

Reversing, the Seventh Circuit noted the domestic relations exception has a core and a penumbra. The core is occupied by cases in which plaintiffs seek federal diversity jurisdiction over domestic relations issues such as divorce, annulment, child custody, alimony, or child support. The penumbra consists of ancillary proceedings, such as collection of unpaid alimony, that state law would require to be litigated as a tail to the original proceeding.

Citing case law, the court noted the exception does not extend to proceedings that merely arise out of a domestic relations dispute. For example, the court said, if defendant had murdered his former father-in-law, the ensuing suit for wrongful death would not have been conducted by a domestic relations court as an ancillary proceeding to the original divorce case.

The court added that to the extent the federal tort suit and domestic relations proceeding overlap, the district judge may stay the federal suit to prevent it from operating as an engine of conflict, harassment, or duplication.

Plaintiffs Counsel:

Edward Kaplan, Chicago, Ill.

Copyright Association of Trial Lawyers of America Dec 1998
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