Lanyon's Detective Agency, Inc. v. Cochrane

Is a husband hable for the services of a detective employed by a wife to discover his infidelity? I think not. Confining our answer to the facts of this case we can find no evidence that such services were necessary to enable the wife to maintain her action for separation.

Before reviewing the evidence there is a rule of law which should be settled and which apparently has not been heretofore directly passed upon by this court. In Elder v. Rosenwasser (238 N. Y. 427) we held that legal services procured by a wife iii order to defend herself against a charge of assault and grand larceny was a…