Schneider v. Biberger

Citations

• 76 Wash. 504
• 136 P. 701
• 6 A.L.R. 1056
• 1913 Wash. LEXIS 1847

Syllabus

<p>Husband and Wife — Actions—Parties — Necessary Plaintiffs. In an action by a married woman for damages for an indecent assault, the husband is a necessary party plaintiff, under Rem. & Bal. Code, § 181, providing that the husband must be joined with the wife except when the action concerns her separate property, or the action is between husband and wife, or when she is living separate and apart from her husband.</p> <p>Same — Actions—Parties—Living “Separate and Apart” — Temporary Absence — Evidence—Sufficiency. A wife is not shown to be living separate and apart from her husband so as to render it unnecessary to join him as a party plaintiff in an action by her for an indecent assault, committed June 15, by evidence that for two weeks prior to the assault she had been residing with her parents, and a week subsequent to the assault she returned to her husband’s home where she remained, save for time spent in a hospital, until an action for divorce was commenced Aug. 19th; since her absence was only of a temporary nature.</p> <p>Same — Parties—After Divorce — Community Property — Rights of Action. The granting of a divorce without disposing of property rights does not dispense with the necessity of joining the former husband as a party plaintiff in an action for an indecent assault committed on the wife while the marriage relation existed; since the right of action was community property, and after the divorce becomes their common property.</p> <p>Fullerton, J., dissents.</p>