1931-
Palimony Litigant

Palimony.

Michelle Marvin was a Las Vegas dancer and a supper-club singer. In 1964 she met the actor Lee Marvin on the set of the movie Ship of Fools, and she moved in with him shortly after that. When they split up in the early 1970s, she claimed she had cooked and cleaned for him and taken care of him after he had been drinking. She said he told her "What I have is yours and what you have is mine." California had laws requiring that married people split the assets of their marriage; although the Marvins were not formally married, Michelle believed she was entitled to money from him. Lee Marvin disagreed. Their dispute went to the California Supreme Court.

Palimony.

The California Supreme Court held in 1976 that Lee Marvin and Michelle Marvin had an implied contract, of a type that was legally...