Pillow Talk

Pennsylvania, like many other states, repealed criminal sanctions for adultery years ago. But it still recognized the common law right of an aggrieved spouse to sue for "criminal conversation." That was the doctrine James Fadgen, then 30, a Pittsburgh teacher, invoked when he discovered that his wife Bonnie, 26, was sleeping with George Lenkner. His suit asked for compensatory and punitive damages of an unspecified amount. The case aroused more than casual interest because Lenkner, 31, was the Roman Catholic priest who had presided at the Fadgens' 1972 marriage. When a Pittsburgh court found in Fadgen's favor, Lenkner appealed. The state supreme court, in a 3-to-2 decision this month, avowed that it holds "the institution of marriage in the highest regard," but added that "rapid legal and societal changes" had made the right to sue for criminal conversation an anachronism. The Fadgens, meanwhile, have split up, and Lenkner has quit the church. George and Bonnie are now married and living in York, Pa., where he is a social worker.

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