Larson v. Larson

192 N.E.2d 594 (1963)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

P was 48 years of age and D 39 years of age on March 21, 1950, the date of the marriage. P had known D for about two years but had known her well for only about one month before the marriage. P noticed nothing abnormal about her. He knew nothing of her having any mental disability if she had any. A few months after the marriage D once in a while thought police officers were watching her, although they were not. P thought the house was wired with electricity from which she was receiving electric shocks, but the house was not so wired. In the middle of the night sometimes she thought she heard people running around on the roof and around the house, but there were no people on the roof or around the house. In the nighttime on one occasion, she ran to a neighbor's house where she was not known, and the police brought her home. She ran away a second time. She was then committed to Elgin State Hospital as a mentally ill person, incapable of managing and caring for her own estate. She was there for about four months. The court eventually held that P had recovered from her mental illness and was capable of caring for her own estate and restored her to all her civil rights. D was again committed by the County Court. D accused P of having women around when he did not and sometimes said the police were watching her. Sometimes when the plaintiff came home from work, she chased him with a broom. Once she locked him out of the house. D was committed to the Hospital in 1952, and thereafter whenever she was at intervals permitted to come home on weekends, and again after she was restored in 1954 and until the second commitment in 1956, and again thereafter when she was at times given conditional discharges on weekends at home. P filed for an annulment based on mental incapacity. P presented a Doctor to testify about D’s mental disorder and whether it was insanity, which it was not. The court held against P as D was not insane. P appealed.