Can someone sue me for emotion distress because I told his fiancé that I was pregnant with his baby?
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Can someone sue me for emotion distress because I told his fiancé that I was pregnant with his baby?
I found out I was pregnant 6 weeks before the father of my unborn child was going to get married. I don’t believe in abortion and had plans to keep the baby even after receiving many manipulating and threatening texts to end the pregnancy. He had no intention of being a part of his child’s life or mine. I called his fianc a week before their wedding and told her their is something she needs to speak to him about. He told her what was going on and asked that I do not speak to him and that we communicate solely between our lawyers. Weeks later I made the difficult decision to have an abortion. I did not tell him. Months passed and he did not have an update on whether or not I continued with my pregnancy. I did not feel I owed him an explanation on my decision. He is now threatening to sue me for emotion distress. Does he have a valid case against me?
Asked on September 7, 2017 under Personal Injury, California
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 7 years ago | Contributor
No, he does not: there is no legal claim or cause of action for emotional distress (or, for that matter, for defamation) for simply telling someone (e.g. the fiance) a true fact as long as doing it was not part of an ongoing pattern of harassment. There is also no legal claim for emotional distress for not being provided updates, etc. about your pregnancy or what happened with it. The law does not provide compensation for people being upset, unless the behavior which caused the upset was itself unquestionably wrongful, like ongoing harassment, bullying, defamation, etc.
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