Kober v. Kober

Rule of Law:

The fraudulent concealment of morally repugnant, fanatical beliefs that are so fundamental to a person's character as to make the marital relationship unworkable constitutes fraud material to the marriage contract, providing grounds for an annulment.

Facts:

• Before their marriage, the defendant husband concealed from the plaintiff wife that he had been an officer in the German Army and a member of the Nazi party during World War II.
• The husband also concealed his fanatical anti-Semitic beliefs, including his approval of Hitler's 'Final Solution,' the extermination of Jewish people.
• During their courtship, the husband presented himself as having a normal character and an absence of fanatic anti-Semitism.
• Relying on the husband's apparent character, the wife was unaware of his past and true beliefs when she consented to marry him.
• The parties married on June 28, 1963.
• After the marriage, the husband revealed his true beliefs and demanded that the wife cease socializing with all her Jewish friends.
• The wife asserted she would not have married the husband had she known of his concealed past and beliefs, which she claimed made the marital relationship unworkable.

Procedural Posture:

• The plaintiff wife sued the defendant husband for an annulment in the New York Special Term, a court of first instance.
• The plaintiff's initial complaint was dismissed with leave to amend.
• The plaintiff filed an amended complaint, and the defendant moved to dismiss the second cause of action for insufficiency.
• The Special Term denied the defendant's motion to dismiss.
• The defendant husband, as appellant, appealed to the Appellate Division, an intermediate appellate court.
• The Appellate Division reversed the Special Term's decision and dismissed the cause of action.
• The plaintiff wife, as appellant, appealed the dismissal to the New York Court of Appeals, the state's highest court.