Ahlbom v. Ahlbom

204 P. 99, 59 Utah 445, 1922 Utah LEXIS 114
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 7, 1922
DocketNo. 3696
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 204 P. 99 (Ahlbom v. Ahlbom) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ahlbom v. Ahlbom, 204 P. 99, 59 Utah 445, 1922 Utah LEXIS 114 (Utah 1922).

Opinion

CORFMAN, C. J.

The parties to this action are husband and wife. Plaintiff commenced her action against the defendant in the district court of Salt Lake County on April 3, 1918 (amended complaint filed December 26, 1918), seeking a divorce, and alleging, in her amended complaint thereafter filed, as grounds, [446]*446willful desertion for more than one year and divers acts of cruelty during and since the month of March, 1911, causing her great physical and mental suffering, humiliation, and distress; that the parties have three minor children, the issue of their marriage, all of whom defendant has wrongfully caused the juvenile court to assume jurisdiction over and place in an orphans’ home in Salt Lake City. It is further alleged that defendant is a strong, able-bodied man, capable of earning at least $5 per day, that he is an unfit person to have the care and custody of said children, and that the plaintiff is a fit person to have their care and custody. Plaintiff prays for a decree of divorce, and that she be awarded the custody of said children and reasonable alimony for their support during their minority and for attorney’s fees and costs of suit.

The defendant answered, denying the alleged desertion and cruelty on his part, and, for an affirmative defense, alleged desertion on the part of the plaintiff, and that upon divers occasions between May 27, 1913, and January 26, 1918, and particularly on the date last named,, plaintiff committed adultery with one William Earl Smith. Defendant also pleaded as a bar to plaintiff’s action that in June, 1914, in a similar action between the parties, when the same matters as are set forth in the complaint herein were involved, the court, after hearing all the evidence, rendered judgment that “the plaintiff’s complaint be dismissed.”

Plaintiff filed a reply, denying the affirmative allegations of the defendant’s answer. Upon the trial of the case in September, 1919, the district court found the issues in favor of the defendant, and entered its judgment dismissing the plaintiff’s complaint. After applying for and being denied a new trial, plaintiff appeals.

As grounds for a reversal of the judgment plaintiff complains : That the court erred in making certain findings, and that the court’s 'conclusions of law and judgment are not sustained by the evidence and are contrary to law; that the court erred in not finding upon all the issues in the case, [447]*447and in “limiting tbe evidence to tbe events and facts following tbe judgment” pleaded in bar.

It appears from tbe evidence that tbe parties to tbis action were married in Salt Lake City, Utah, December 23, 1901. Three children, two girls and one boy, were born, tbe issue of said marriage, their, ages at the time of tbe trial being 12, 11, and 7 years, respectively. Matrimonial difficulties arose between the parties, and tbe plaintiff commenced an action in the district court of Salt Lake county against tbe defendant for divorce upon the ground of cruelty, which culminated in a judgment or decree in the defendant’s favor June 19, 1914. Thereafter the parties did not resume marital relations, or living together as husband and wife, but lived separate and apart from each other.

As has been before stated, the plaintiff filed her amended complaint against the defendant December 26, 1918. Subsequent to the dismissal of plaintiff’s first action in 1914, and until January, 1918, the children were left in the custody of and lived with the plaintiff at her home in Salt Lake City. During that period the defendant was away from Utah muéh of the time, working as a common laborer, but he at all times contributed in a substantial way to the support and maintenance of the children. In January, 1918, the juvenile court of Salt Lake City began an investigation for the purpose of determining the fitness of the plaintiff to have charge of the children, and thereupon said children became the wards of said court and were placed in an orphans’ home in Salt Lake City, where they have since been cared for at the expense of the defendant.

The district court, in the present case, in brief, found:

That by reason of said former action, as to the acts of cruelty charged against the defendant in the present action, the plaintiff is barred; “that since June 19, 1914 (date of dismissal of plaintiff’s former action), plaintiff and defendant have lived separate and apart, but that said living separate and apart was not due to the fault of the defendant;” that on the night of January 26, 1918, plaintiff committed an act of adultery; “that since June 19, 1914, defendant has not been guilty of treating the plaintiff in a cruel or inhuman manner, nor of causing her any bodily injury or mental distress.”

[448]*448The contention of the plaintiff may be best stated in the language of her brief, as follows:

“Appellant’s first contention is that the judgment rendered June 19, 1914, between plaintiff and defendant, is not a bar to appellant’s cause of action for desertion. Next, that the cause of action on cruelty is not barred by said judgment, for the reason that the acts of cruelty relied on are wholly different, and some of said acts are subsequent to the acts pleaded, and therefore were not adjudicated, and were not pleadable as an estoppel in the case at bar.”

Plaintiff cites many authorities, among them the following: Prall v. Pratt, 58 Fla. 496, 50 South. 867, 26 L. R. A. (N. S.) 577, 583; Wagner v. Wagner, 104 Cal. 293, 37 Pac. 935; Lee v. Lee, 38 Okl. 388, 132 Pac. 1070; Louis v. Louis, 134 Mo. App. 566, 114 S. W. 1150; Smith v. Smith, 35 Ind. App. 610, 74 N. E. 1008; 15 R. C. L. § 531, p. 1049; Ringgold v. Ringgold, 128 Va. 485, 104 S. E. 836, 12 A. L. R. 1390; Albertson v. Clark (Colo.) 197 Pac. 757; Hudson v. Hudson, 59 Fla. 529, 51 South. 857, 29 L. R. A. (N. S.) 614, 138 Am. St. Rep. 141, 21 Ann. Cas. 278.

Without here reviewing the cases cited and relied upon by plaintiff, it must suffice to say that they have no application to the controlling facts and circumstances in the case at bar. Plaintiff’s former action for divorce was predicated upon alleged acts of cruelty. In that action, after a trial upon the merits, the district court expressly found against her, no cause of action, and entered judgment dismissing her complaint. Plaintiff was then seeking for and stated her cause of action in divorce. As grounds therefor she alleged cruelty alone on the part of the defendant. If any other acts of cruelty as grounds for divorce existed at the time, she might have set them forth in her complaint, presented her proofs at the trial, and had them considered and passed upon by the court. The rule is well settled that in this class 1 of cases, where a final judgment is rendered by the court upon the merits in one action, it will be conclusive and final in a second suit as to every question that was presented or might have been presented and determined under the pleadings in the first suit. Ford v. Ford, 25 Okl. 785, 108 [449]*449Pac. 366, 27 L. R. A. (N. S.) 856; Lewis v. Lewis, 106 Mass. 309; Stay v. Stay, 53 Wash. 534, 102 Pac. 420; Thurston v. Thurston, 99 Mass. 39; Wagner v. Wagner, 36 Minn. 239, 30 N. W. 766.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Bradley v. Bradley
1955 OK 153 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1955)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
204 P. 99, 59 Utah 445, 1922 Utah LEXIS 114, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ahlbom-v-ahlbom-utah-1922.