Mertens v. Mertens

— The trial court dismissed an action brought by a husband for a divorce, finding that the wife had “been guilty of no conduct which is cruel or calculated to subject the plaintiff to personal indignities rendering his life burdensome.” The husband appeals.

The husband’s testimony built up a case of what seemed to him excessive religious zeal on the part of his wife: a refusal to use cosmetics or to patronize beauty parlors, and disapproval of smoking, drinking, dancing, card playing, and attending shows, none of which constitute cruelty or personal indignities per se. However, he testified…