Bailey v. Faulkner
Supreme Court of Alabama
940 So. 2d 247 (2006)
Pastor Floyd Bailey (defendant) began marital counseling for James Faulkner (plaintiff) and his wife, and simultaneously began a consensual affair with Mrs. Faulkner that lasted several months, during which Bailey also counseled Mr. Faulkner to decline a job relocation his wife opposed. After Mr. Faulkner discovered the affair, Bailey admitted it and resigned; Mr. Faulkner divorced and then sued Bailey, framing his claim as negligent or wanton provision of counseling services causing him severe mental anguish. A jury awarded Mr. Faulkner substantial compensatory and punitive damages, and Bailey appealed.
Whether Alabama's statutory abolition of "heart balm" torts, such as alienation of affection, bars a claim against a pastor for an affair with a counseling client's spouse when the claim is pleaded as negligent or wanton counseling rather than as intentional interference with the marriage.