Stephen K. v. Roni L., 105 Cal.App.3d 640 (1980)

CASE: Man sues woman for getting pregnant with his child.

FACTS: The mother of a child brough a paternity suit against the defendant. After admitting he was the child's father, the man filed a cross-complaint against the mother for "fraud, negligent misrepresentation and negligence." He alleged that the mother had falsely represented to him that she was taking birth control pills and that he only had sex with her in reliance upon that misrepresentation. As a proximate cause of the resulting pregnancy, he said, he has become obligated to support the family financially and suffered "mental agony and distress" to the tune of $100,000. He also sought $100,000 in punitive damages against the woman for having acted "with oppression, fraud, and malice" toward him. The trial court dismissed the cross-complaint, and the man appealed.

COURT SAYS: Lower court affirmed (finding for the woman).

HOLDING: Trial court did not err in dismissing man's cross-complaint in a paternity suit seeking $200,000 in damages against the mother of his child for allegedly telling him falsely that she was on birth control before they had sex because her actions, even if true, did not constitute an actionable tort.

RATIONALE:

• Courts should stay out of people's bedrooms and not supervise the promises made between two consenting adults as to the circumstances of their private sexual conduct. To do so would be to violate matters of individual privacy.
• There's no good reason why the man did not himself take precautionary measures.
• No court in history has ever upheld such contentions.

T O P