Arrigoni v. Arrigoni

This is an appeal from a judgment of a state referee dissolving the marriage of the parties, awarding the defendant wife lump-sum alimony of $75,000 payable within one year, periodic alimony of $100 per week for five years, and counsel fees of $5000. The issue, as framed by both parties in their briefs, is whether the trier abused his discretion in making these awards.

The parties had been married about thirteen years at the time of trial. They had no children. The defendant wife was severely injured in an automobile accident in 1976 which rendered her permanently disabled, unemployable, and…