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Hakkila v. Hakkila3/21/1991
In response to the petition of E. Arnold Hakkila (husband) for dissolution of marriage, Peggy J. Hakkila (wife) counter-petitioned for damages arising from alleged intentional infliction of emotional distress. Husband appeals from the judgment entered against him on the tort claim and from the award of attorney's fees in the divorce proceeding. We reverse the damage award and remand for further proceedings with respect to the award of attorney's fees.
I. FACTS
Husband and wife were married on October 29, 1975. Each had been married before. They permanently separated in February 1985. Husband filed his petition for dissolution of marriage the following month. Husband, who holds a Ph.D. in chemistry, had been employed at Los Alamos National Laboratory throughout the marriage. Wife, a high school graduate with credit hours toward a baccalaureate degree in chemistry and a vocational degree as a chemical technician, had been employed at the laboratory as a secretary for seven years and as a chemical technician for about seven and one-half years. She voluntarily terminated her employment in December 1979.
The district court found that "[wife's] emotional and mental health, especially since the parties' separation, has been shown to have been characterized by acute depression and one psychotic episode." The district court's findings noted conflicting testimony concerning wife's past and current mental condition. The district court summarized one psychologist's testimony as diagnosing wife "as subject to a borderline personally disorder pre-dating the parties' marriage," and summarized another's as diagnosing her as "an intellectualizing personality in the early years of her marriage and as suffering from acute depression since approximately 1981." Apparently all the experts agreed that wife was temporarily emotionally disabled at the time of the hearing.
Finding No. 22 summarized husband's intentional misconduct:
The manner in which [husband] treated [wife] during the marriage and which resulted in her disability and impairment is as follows. [Husband] on occasions throughout the marriage and continuing until the separation[:]
a. assaulted and battered [wife],
b. insulted [wife] in the presence of guests, friends, relatives, and foreign dignitaries,
c. screamed at [wife] at home and in the presence of others,
d. on one occasion locked [wife] out of the residence over night in the dead of winter while she had nothing on but a robe,
e. made repeated demeaning remarks regarding [wife's] sexuality,
f. continuously stated to [wife] that she was crazy, insane, and incompetent,
g. refused to allow [wife] to pursue schooling and hobbies,
h. refused to participate in normal marital relationship with [wife] which ultimately resulted in only having sexual relations with [wife] on four occasions in the last three years of the marriage,
i. blamed his sexual inadequacies upon [wife].
Finding No. 26 stated:
[Husband's] acts in intentionally inflicting severe emotional distress upon [wife] was so outrageous in character and so extreme in degree as to be beyond all possible bounds of decency and were atrocious and utterly intolerable.
The district court also found:
31. [Wife] has been sufficiently legally incompetent since 1981 to be unable to
file a lawsuit against [husband] for damages, and any statute of limitations which may have run prior to the filing of [wife's] counterclaim for the period from 1981 to the date of the
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