A New Jersey woman is being sued for writing “bum” and “loser” in the memo line of alimony checks addressed to her ex-spouse, the Daily Record reported Saturday.
Diane Wagner, 57, of Hopatcong, was sued Thursday in Morristown Superior Court after ignoring a demand from her former husband’s lawyer to stop, according to the Daily Record.
Francis Wagner, 61, of Denville, N.J., is seeking unspecified damages for infliction of emotional distress and harassment. He claims the memo line insults have exacerbated his poor health which includes cancer and a bad heart.
She pays him $186 a week in alimony and has been doing so since their divorce was finalized last year. His only income is from Social Security disability payments. The alimony runs until 2020, according to the paper.
"As far as I'm concerned I can write anything I want on the memo line because it's a note to myself. I was the victim in that marriage. What more blood does he want from me? I pay him religiously," Wagner told the paper.
Wagner said she asked for the divorce after enduring her husband’s drunken bouts during the marriage. They marriage lasted 10 years. Her income source wasn't mentioned in the article.
She told the Daily Record that she is in poor health herself. She said she is terminally ill with cancer and can barely afford the alimony payments. She said she asked for a reduction but her petition was rejected in New Jersey Family Court.
Wagner told the paper she felt humiliated when she spotted one of her checks on the Facebook page of her husband’s lawyer. On that check she wrote in the memo line “Alimony/Adult Child Support.”
A few months later, in July, the lawyer sent her a cease-and-desist letter.
"Please be advised that your writings are causing my client severe emotional distress and have led to him having sustained heart attacks in recent weeks,” the letter stated, according to the Daily Record.
The lawsuit claims that after getting the letter, Wagner started writing “FOAD” on the alimony checks. The complaint alleges that FOAD was an acronym containing an explitive.
Diane Wagner told the Daily Record it was only a private notation to herself.
The paper reported that Francis Wagner could not immediately be reached for comment.
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