Family harmony would be threatened if members knew that they can sue each other in tort. If the family has liability insurance, there is a fear that family members will fraudulently try to collect under the policy by fabricating tort actions against each other. When the insurance company pays the tort claim, the payment might go into the same house where both plaintiff and defendant live, thereby allowing both to benefit by the payment. At common law, husbands and wives could not sue each other because a husband and wife were considered to be one person, and that one person was the husband. Hence to allow a suit between spouses would theoretically amount to one person suing himself, and any damages from the suit would be paid and received by the same person—the husband.