📜 Supreme Court’s Landmark Divorce & Damages Ruling in #SriLanka 🇱🇰

⭕ Supreme Court rules a spouse can claim damages from an alleged adulterer without filing for divorce in the same action.

⭕ Background: The wife filed for divorce citing “malicious desertion” by the husband, but the husband contested, claiming the marriage broke down due to her alleged adultery.

⭕ Husband argued he didn’t desert the wife; instead, he blamed her alleged affair with the co-defendant for the marriage's breakdown.

⭕ Husband sought damages for "loss of consortium" from the co-defendant, resulting in a Rs. 500,000 award.

⭕ Justices Preethi Padman Surasena & Achala Wengappuli agreed with Justice Priyantha Fernando’s decision, allowing damages claims separately from divorce actions.

⭕ Court ruled no misjoinder of actions, meaning the husband’s damages claim could proceed independently from any divorce petition.

⭕ The ruling stemmed from the co-defendant’s appeal against judgments by the Hatton District Court & Kandy High Court, which favored the husband’s damages claim.

⭕ Legal Context: In Sri Lanka, adultery isn’t a criminal offense but is grounds for divorce and damages in civil cases.

This judgment sets a new precedent, broadening legal recourse in family disputes involving third-party claims.

https://t.co/xERsOa6vAH