## Facts

- Hilda Louise Boehm and Louis Gail Fiege had sexual relations in 1951, and Boehm became pregnant and claimed Fiege was the father.
- Before the child’s birth, Fiege allegedly promised to pay Boehm’s pregnancy and childbirth medical expenses, compensate her lost wages, and pay $10 per week in child support until age 21.
- The alleged promise was made in exchange for Boehm’s agreement to forbear from instituting bastardy proceedings against Fiege.
- Boehm refrained from filing bastardy charges, and Fiege made payments totaling about $480 from 1951 to 1953.
- In 1953, a blood test indicated Fiege could not be the child’s biological father, and he stopped paying.
- Boehm then instituted bastardy proceedings; Fiege was acquitted, largely based on the blood-test evidence.
- Boehm brought a civil breach-of-contract action to recover the alleged unpaid balance under the support agreement; the trial court instructed that the bastardy acquittal was not binding in the civil case.

## Issues

1. Whether Boehm’s forbearance from filing bastardy proceedings was sufficient consideration for Fiege’s support promise when later evidence and a bastardy acquittal indicated he was not the father.
2. Whether Fiege’s bastardy acquittal precluded Boehm’s subsequent contract action to enforce the support agreement.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeals of Maryland affirmed judgment for Boehm on the jury verdict.
- The court held that forbearance to assert a claim can be valid consideration when the claimant honestly and reasonably believes the claim may be valid at the time of the bargain, even if the claim later proves unfounded.
- The court held that the bastardy acquittal did not bar the contract action and was not conclusive on the enforceability of the support agreement.
- The court approved the trial court’s submission to the civil jury of whether Boehm acted in good faith in making and forbearing the bastardy claim.

## Legal Principles

- Forbearance to sue may constitute consideration if the forbearing party had a good-faith intention to pursue litigation that is not frivolous, vexatious, or unlawful, and reasonably believed the claim to be well founded.
- Forbearance is not consideration when the claim surrendered or withheld is known to be invalid or is asserted without good faith and reasonable grounds.
- Consideration is assessed based on the parties’ situation and the claimant’s good-faith, reasonable belief at the time of contracting; later-discovered facts do not retroactively negate consideration.
- A prior bastardy acquittal does not, by itself, preclude a separate civil contract action to enforce a support promise allegedly exchanged for forbearance.

## Conclusion

The court enforced a support agreement based on the mother’s good-faith forbearance from initiating bastardy proceedings, holding that such forbearance supplies consideration despite later evidence disproving paternity, and that a bastardy acquittal does not bar an independent breach-of-contract claim.


Fiege v. Boehm, 210 Md. 352, 123 A.2d 316 (Md. 1956)