The recent news of a suit by one of John Daley’s wives against his lover for “alienation of affections” in Mississippi has brought a lot of attention to the legal concepts of “alienation of affections” and “Long arm jurisdiction.” Simply put, if there is some “purposeful act” committed in Mississippi or against a Mississippi resident which destroys a marriage, a person could be sued for damages in Mississippi, as well as the several other states that allow for such suits. First, if an out of state person has an affair with a Mississippi resident and knows the person is a resident of Mississippi, they may be sued in Mississippi for breaking up the marriage. All it takes is one single action directed at Mississippi, such as a phone call, text, email or letter to Mississippi. Thomas v. Skrip, 876 F. Supp. 2d 797 (S. D. Miss 012) Bailey v. Stanford, No. 3:11-cv-00040-NBB-SSA, 2012 WL 569020 (N.D. Miss. Feb. 21, 2012).
Interestingly, this law also extends to non-residents of Mississippi where the affair took place in Mississippi, such as the case of Camp v. Roberts, 462 So. 2d 726 (Miss. 1985) where it was held that the trial court had in personam jurisdiction over an alienation-of-affections suit filed in Mississippi by a New York resident against a New York/New Jersey resident because the parties chose to meet together in Mississippi.
Some people scoff at the idea of a suit for alienation of affections, but supporters of the claim believe a person should be accountable for intentionally destroying a marriage.
See the recent case of Nordness v. Faucheux, No. 2013-IA-01479-SCT (5/28/15) for a full discussion.