Regards, Ivan
Posted on 01/04/2003 8:03:55 PM PST by MadIvan
An Austrian divorce hearing has introduced a costly new deterrent to the world of extramarital liaisons: a woman conducting an affair with a married man has been ordered to pay the private detective costs incurred by the deceived wife.
The ruling last month has set a precedent which has prompted a spate of similar claims by embittered spouses who have employed private investigators to check on their cheating partners.
In one case, a woman was told that she had to pay for flirting with a married man, even though the private detective found no evidence that the couple had had an affair.
The husband claimed that he had only helped the woman out with some gardening work, but because he had not informed his wife, the court ruled that he had acted in an "adulterous way" and ordered the "flirtatious" woman he had visited to cover the costs of the secret surveillance by a detective.
The precedent was set during divorce proceedings when a Viennese woman, not named for legal reasons, showed the court photographs taken by a private detective that proved that her husband had been having an affair. The investigator had followed the man on a business trip to the province of Carinthia where he took the photographs.
The deceived woman was granted her request for a divorce, but then argued that it was unfair that she should have to pay the detective's costs as she was the wronged party.
She also claimed that it was unfair to make her husband pay, as it would leave him less money to fund a divorce settlement and the money would in any case be taken from their joint account.
The Vienna regional court accepted the argument and although the married man's single lover appealed, her case was thrown out by the Vienna supreme court.
The higher court agreed that it was fair that the man's lover should pay the private detective's costs of more than £3,000.
Bernard Maier, the head of the Austrian Detective Federation, said that the case had clarified an existing law which stated that a third party could be presented with a bill for a private investigator's work.
"Austrian law allows that the person who is found to be to blame in any legal challenge has to cover the costs, including the charge for a private detective, regardless of who hired the detective," he said.
The bulk of the work of Austria's private detectives, who charge on average about £50 an hour plus expenses, concerns issues of marital fidelity.
Mr Maier said: "In the end it is more or less all the same to us private detectives who covers the fee. But I am sure a lot of cheated people will like the chance to slap their love rivals with the bill for our work."
Regards, Ivan
I don't, so I have nothing to pay. Though my lady wishes a fat bum on every woman I fancied before I met her. ;)
Regards, Ivan
The "my wife was told about the hoe" defense.
Or the "I was only handling her melons" defense. Depending upon the type of garden, of course.
Regards, Ivan
Or indeed, about spreading one's seed. ;)
Regards, Ivan
Why? I would say the philanderer is much more guilty than the "little slut". The "little slut" made no vows to the wife. The philanderer did. I've always been amazed at the misplaced anger of a spouse finding the other in bed with someone else and shooting the third party, not the spouse.
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