## Facts

- Christina Giovine and Peter J. Giovine married in 1971, had three children, and separated in late 1978.
- In 1980 divorce litigation, Christina asserted domestic-violence-based tort claims, including assault and battery (March 1972; December 1978) and intentional infliction of emotional distress, and alleged a “continuous and unbroken wrong” beginning in 1972 and continuing until separation.
- In the prior matter, the March 1972 tort claim was dismissed as time-barred, the December 1978 claim was resolved against Christina after a directed verdict in the divorce trial, and the “continuous wrong” theory was rejected; appellate review treated the tort dispositions as final.
- In 1994, Christina filed an eleven-count pleading seeking divorce, asserting renewed tort claims (assault/battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, “continuous wrong,” and negligence), and alleging that battered woman’s syndrome (BWS) and prolonged abuse caused severe physical and psychological harm over many years.
- Christina also asserted multiple equitable theories to claim an interest in real property titled solely in Peter’s name and demanded a jury trial on the tort and equitable counts.

## Issues

1. Whether allegations of prolonged domestic abuse supported by BWS may constitute a continuous tort that defers accrual or tolls the two-year personal-injury limitations period.
2. Whether res judicata, collateral estoppel, or the entire controversy doctrine barred the 1994 tort claims in light of the 1980 divorce litigation and prior tort dispositions.
3. Whether the equitable property-based claims were properly dismissed at the pleading stage.

## Decision

- The Appellate Division reversed in substantial part the dismissal of Christina’s tort claims and held that BWS-supported allegations of ongoing abuse could be pled as a continuous tort for limitations purposes.
- The court ruled that the Family Part erred by rejecting, as a matter of law and at the pleading stage, the possibility that the alleged abuse and its psychological effects could toll or delay the running of the limitations period.
- The court held that preclusion doctrines did not automatically bar the new claims to the extent they depended on an alleged continuing pattern of abuse and resulting psychological injury not previously and fully litigated, while recognizing that discrete incidents actually litigated and finally determined remained barred.
- The court remanded for further proceedings, including factual development and the opportunity to present expert testimony on BWS and the asserted continuous course of tortious conduct.
- The court declined to sustain a wholesale pleading-stage dismissal of the equitable claims and indicated they required a fuller factual record.

## Legal Principles

- A course of domestic abuse may be treated as an ongoing tort rather than as isolated acts when the pleadings and proof support a continuing pattern of wrongful conduct and injury.
- BWS may be relevant to accrual and equitable tolling analyses by supporting a claim that coercion and psychological effects prevented timely suit; it does not create an automatic limitations exemption.
- At the motion-to-dismiss stage, well-pled allegations must be viewed favorably to the claimant; where expert proof could support BWS and continuity, dismissal with prejudice is premature.
- Claim preclusion and related doctrines bar relitigation of specific incidents actually litigated and finally adjudicated, but do not necessarily foreclose later claims framed as a broader continuous course of conduct and resulting syndrome-based injury that was not previously resolved.

## Conclusion

The Appellate Division largely reinstated claims arising from alleged long-term domestic abuse, holding that BWS can support pleading a continuous tort that may toll or defer the limitations period, while leaving precluded any discrete tort incidents already finally adjudicated, and remanded for development of expert and factual proof.


Giovine v. Giovine, 663 A.2d 109 (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. 1995)