Brewer v. Macaluso

221 So. 2d 343, 1969 La. App. LEXIS 5054
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 7, 1969
DocketNo. 3391
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 221 So. 2d 343 (Brewer v. Macaluso) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brewer v. Macaluso, 221 So. 2d 343, 1969 La. App. LEXIS 5054 (La. Ct. App. 1969).

Opinions

HALL, Judge.

Charles D. Brewer brought this habeas corpus proceeding against his divorced wife, Mrs. Brenda Gale Sparks Macaluso, seeking to obtain custody of the minor child, Charles D. Brewer, Jr., (aged 2) sole issue of their marriage. The defendant answered and reconvened seeking permanent custody of the child. Following a hearing the Trial Judge rendered judgment vacating the writ of habeas corpus and granting the permanent care, custody and control of the minor to defendant. Plaintiff appealed.

The facts are as follows:

Charles D. Brewer and Brenda Gale Sparks were divorced by judgment of the Chancery Court of Lee County, Mississippi, on April 18, 1967. In this judgment the custody of their minor child, Charles D. Brewer, Jr., was granted to its mother, Brenda Gale Sparks.

Following the divorce both parties remarried. Brenda Gale Sparks is now the wife of Dr. Sam C. Macaluso and resides in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana. Charles D. Brewer resides in New Albany, Mississippi.

On February 16, 1968 the Mississippi Court rendered a decree changing the custody of the child by dividing its custody between its parents for alternate periods of three months each: Under this decree Mrs. Brenda Gale Sparks Macaluso was granted custody of the child for the first three month period beginning February 17, 1968 and ending May 17, 1968, on which latter date she was required to deliver the child into its father’s custody for the second three month period.

When her first period of custody ended on May 17, 1968, Mrs. Macaluso refused to turn over the custody of the child to its father, Charles D. Brewer, as required by the decree of the Mississippi Court. As a result of such refusal Charles D. Brewer brought this habeas corpus proceeding on May 27, 1968.

[345]*345When the case was called for trial it was stipulated that Mrs. Macaluso presently has the custody of the child and had had since custody since February 1968. It was further stipulated that the child’s father, Mr. Brewer, had had the physical custody of the child from November 1967 until February 16, 1968. Following this stipulation plaintiff introduced authenticated copies of the Mississippi decrees and rested. Thereupon the defendant adduced testimony in support of her reconventional demand for permanent custody of the child which consisted of her own testimony, the testimony of Mrs. Ann Migliore and that of Dr. Kyle B. Hamm, a psychiatrist. Plaintiff offered no rebuttal.

Mrs. Macaluso had the legal custody of the child, by virtue of the divorce decree of April 18, 1967, during the period from November 1967 to February 17, 1968. However the record contains no explanation of the stipulated fact that Mr. Brewer had physical custody of the child during this period. The only allusion to this subject is Mrs. Macaluso’s testimony that she made many efforts to see the child during this period without success.

Mrs. Macaluso testified that when she picked up the child on February 17, 1968 and brought him to Louisiana she found him quiet, withdrawn and nervous. She stated that the child had a great fear that she would leave him. She further testified that when she would take him out of the house to visit elsewhere she could not put him down because he would scream and cry for fear she would leave him. At night she had trouble getting him to sleep and when he would finally go to sleep he would wake up during the night crying as if he were having a nightmare. The child was very withdrawn and would not make friends. If he played she would have to be somewhere near him. If he would lose sight of her he would wander through the house calling for her as if in fear she had left him. Mrs. Macaluso testified that this type of behavior had not occurred when she had the child prior to November 1967. She said that approximately a month after she brought the child to Louisiana he started talking more and seemed happier and more relaxed. She further testified that in March of 1968 her husband, Dr. Macaluso, talked to a psychiatrist (other than Dr. Hamm) about the situation and on the psychiatrist’s advice she refused to surrender the child to its father at the termination of her three months custody period.

Mrs. Ann Migliore, a friend of Mrs. Macaluso’s, testified to the unusual behavior of the child as described by Mrs. Maca-luso and it was stipulated that three other witnesses, if called, would testify to the same effect.

Dr. Kyle B. Hamm, a general psychiatrist, testified that he saw the child in his office on May 31, 1968 and June 3, 1968. (The trial commenced on June 4, 1968.) His testimony was generally to the effect that divided custody would be extremely detrimental to the child and that a child of this age could not adjust himself to being with one parent for a while and then being shifted to the other parent. He said that there would be a conflict within the child because each parent would require different behavior from the child; that the child would become confused as to where authority lies and this would make him become isolated and withdrawn. He would feel that his parents have deserted him which would cause depression manifested by lack of enthusiasm and interest and in adolescence the child would become a “loner”. Dr. Hamm explained the child could react in two ways to the change of custody: (1) he could be withdrawn from the world including his parents; (2) he would be withdrawn from his parents but take out his anger and rejection in an antisocial manner. The doctor testified that the child is actually settling down now but if the child went back to his father, he would experience depression and withdrawal again and he would slowly return to normal but this would have an effect on him comparable to what an adult would experience through the death of a parent every [346]*346three months. The child would not like to go through this experience regularly and would protect himself against this pain by not getting involved with either parent. He Tyould reject both parents and would not let his emotional relationship with either develop the way it should.

There is no testimony in the record concerning the condition of the child prior to the divided custody decree of February 16, 1968.

Plaintiff contends that the judgment appealed from changes a custody judgment rendered by a Court of a Sister State without any evidence being presented showing a material or substantial change in circumstances inimical to the child’s welfare subsequent to the rendition of the foreign judgment contrary to the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the Constitution of the United States.

The law in this area is well settled. Under the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the Constitution of the United States the custody judgment of the Mississippi Court is entitled to the same faith, credit and effect in Louisiana that it has in Mississippi. State ex rel. Girtman v. Ricketson, 221 La. 691, 60 So.2d 88. But the constitutional requirement of full faith and credit does not require a State Court to attach greater importance to a foreign judgment than the State granting the judgment. State ex rel. Cahill v. James, La.App., 172 So.2d 299.

Plaintiff does not contend that a Mississippi custody decree is'immutable and not subject to change or modification by the Court which rendered it when circumstances bearing on the welfare of the child have changed since entry of the decree. Neither does plaintiff contend that the Trial Court, in the instant case, was prohibited by the full faith and credit clause from changing or modifying the Mississippi decree provided

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Bluebook (online)
221 So. 2d 343, 1969 La. App. LEXIS 5054, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brewer-v-macaluso-lactapp-1969.