Supreme Court judges have sounded a clear warning to anyone who is legally married and ‘playing away from home’ by fining a philandering husband €15,000 for the moral damages he caused his wife.
Rosa (fictitious name) originally filed her claim in the sum of €100,000.
Now 70, she claimed her husband’s serial philandering since early days in their marriage had made her “sad and depressed”.
She lost her joy of life, explains Público, had to consult psychiatrists, and kept herself hidden away at home.
An early court set damages at €33,000 – fining Rosa’s errant husband €3,000 for each one of the 11 years he eschewed the marital home, enjoying “various amorous relationships”.
This was then overturned by a court of appeal – which said Rosa should have demanded a divorce at the outset, and that it did not follow that her husband had to compensate her for all the years in which the couple’s marriage was clearly over.
Lack of joy for life, however, had not dimmed Rosa’s determination.
She took her case to the Supreme Court which has now ruled that marital vows are sacrosanct.
“Fidelity, cohabitation, cooperation and respect” are all part of the deal – and anyone who thinks otherwise could be in for a nasty legal fight.
Público explained some of the background, saying Rosa married her love-rat husband in 1967, when she was 21 and he just 19.
They had two daughters, and then in 1982 he walked out temporarily, coming back shortly after.
Ever since that time until the year 2000, he had taken to “sporadic nocturnal outings, arriving home very late without giving Rosa any satisfaction”.
“The court accepted that the abandonment of the conjugal home, the relationships with other woman and the disrespect shown in the upbringing of his daughters had caused great hurt to his wife,” adds the paper.
